


Song of an Angel

by Ciel_Works



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: AU, F/M, M/M, Multi, Music, Other, Piano, solangelo, violin, ylia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-11-21 22:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 25,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11366928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ciel_Works/pseuds/Ciel_Works
Summary: Based on Your Lie in April, this au brings Will and Nico through trying times with school, love, and music. Nico plays the violin and Will plays the piano, but Will is unable to hear his playing due to a traumatic experience. The two still brave through and perform, allowing Will to bring his passion back. But they both seem to be hiding something...





	1. Part 1

The fate of two boys will never be forgotten, as sure as the sun rises each morning, as sure as the stars shine each night, as sure as the snow falls each winter, as sure as the cherry blossoms lose their petals in April. So long as music is made with passion and sincerity, there will be no heart that is untouched by their story.

A cell phone sat upon a desk, its screen lit with the title of the newest pop song, the music projected through wires leading to ears hidden by golden locks. A sheet of paper sat next to the phone, with graphite spilling notes upon its lines. In the hand not holding a pencil, a juice box was being held up to the boy’s lips, thoughtlessly drinking as he picked out each pitch that entered his brain.  
He was a prodigy, as they’d said, a true musician, though he had grown rusty through the years he spent away from his instrument. The first-place pianist was turned away from the keys after his last competition. “The human metronome.” That was his nickname. He could play the score perfectly as written, but he faced a price. After his mother died two years ago, he could no longer hear the notes. So he quit. Now, he was just working through music translation for some spare money. The only time he played was to confirm that he had determined the proper notes for the song.  
He had grown used to his life without music. His father was a musician, but he was usually out on a business trip so he rarely had to deal with his pestering. Instead he was going to study medicine, which he seemed to have a talent for and was a stable field. He focused more on his studies than anything else to achieve this goal, and music would only get in the way.  
He knew that he would be a doctor, and he only began to question this when he was sent a recording of an original piece by a violinist. Even through the recording, he could feel the passion that the boy had. It was a sad song, but it sounded happy. When he was checking the composition, he found that it was actually a piece that wasn’t original at all. It simply sounded as such because of how much emotion was in it. The only title he had was the artist’s name, Nico Di Angelo.  
His blue eyes passed over the notes, his brain translating them into sound all through the song. Then he looked down at the keys. He wondered if he could play as passionately as Nico had. Maybe…  
He pressed the first key, then the next, sound slowly forming rhythm, then a medley, and the music filled the boy’s head. His fingers were flying over the keys, going as fast as could be, then slowing, then going louder and louder until silence. He couldn’t hear the notes. He hit the keys, trying to make them play, going at the tempo that was written. Playing the same dynamics all from muscle memory. He couldn’t hear any of it.  
To keep himself from breaking yet again he closed the lid over the keys. He got up, and trailed his fingers over the surface of the piano as he left the room. His delicate fingers, thin and long, the perfect fingers for a pianist, were covered with dust that had settled over the years. He let his hand drop as he exited the room, turning the light off on his previous friend.

He tugged on his shoes as he exited his house, locking the door behind him. He met up with his friend Kayla, who was more like a sister than anything else. She’d lived next door and they grew up together. She was practically skipping down the steps of her porch as she went out to greet him.  
“You wouldn’t believe it Will, I heard this insane piano playing coming from right outside my window last night! I haven’t heard a thing like that in, what, two years? It was like a ghost was raised from the dead!”  
“Yeah, yeah. I got a recording that I was transcribing last night for a client, and it turned out that it was a classic piece that was mistaken for an original because of how it was played. I was playing to check that it was right. That kid is the real deal, able to make a classic his own!”  
“What was their name?”  
“Huh?” Will was caught off guard by this question. Normally Kayla didn’t care so much about his side job. “Nico Di Angelo.”  
“Oooooooh!” She seemed to get really excited by this.  
“Do you… know him… or something?”  
She looked at him like he’d just given the wrong answer to 1+1. “Well yeah, he is in our class after all. Third row, fourth seat back. Don’t tell me you don’t even know your own classmates.”  
“Uh, hehe,” Will responded, rubbing the back of his neck, his freckles slightly glowing from an embarrassed blush.  
“Who in our class do you even know?”  
“Well there’s you, Percy,” he started pushing up a finger for each person, “um… me… um…”  
“Are you serious right now?” Kayla screamed. She jumped in front of him and pointed straight at him, forcing him to stop as well. “You, sir, need to meet more people. You can’t go through life only knowing two other people who have been your friends since childhood!”  
“Alright, alright!” He threw up his hands in defeat, “I’ll try to meet more people. Now we need to keep going or we’re going to be late.”  
Kayla let herself relax, and looked at her watch. “Holy crap, the time! Hurry!” And she took off running.  
“Hold on!” Will broke off into a sprint after her, though found himself unable to keep up. “You’re going too fast!” he shouted. Then he stopped running, and took out his cellphone. “Damn sports people. Always leaving people like me behind.”  
He pulled out his earbuds and plugged them into his phone, and then put one in each ear. He clicked the song “Nico Di Angelo” which he was supposed to delete after transcribing, but he was going to have to break the rules for this one. The sound of strings filled his mind as he calmly danced his way to the school building.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuation of Part 1, but it's more solangelo ylia au.

In class, he looked behind him. Third row, fourth back. There was a kid with long, dark hair that almost covered his eyes, which looked like chocolate. He was pale, and wore black. He didn’t seem spirited at all. Could that really be the violinist in the recording? Will thought. The recording, which he was listening to for about the fifteenth time, was full of energy and love. The boy in the seat looked almost dead inside.  
Nico started to look up and Will turned around so he wouldn’t be caught staring. He nervously pushed a bit of his hair behind his ear, which fell out anyways because it was too short for that. He reached into his pastel blue backpack and pulled out a notebook and grabbed a pen from his pocket. The teacher walked in and class got started.  
“Good morning class, today we’ll be focusing on the culture of ancient Greece and Rome, with a focus on the mythology. We should start with the beginning. Open your textbooks to page 247 and Mr. Di Angelo, would you mind reading the first paragraph for us?”  
With Nico being the one reading, Will had an excuse to look back at him. He found the page and sat up to read the text, “The Greeks believed that the first beings, aside from Earth, were titans who ruled over different parts of the universe. Gaea was the goddess of the Earth, and she asked her sons to assist her in killing their father, and Kronos was the only one willing to help without hesitation. He chopped up the sky and was named King,” though the subject was rough, Nico was able to deliver the words with clarity, and Will was so caught up in his smooth voice that he almost missed the teacher calling on him to read the next paragraph.  
It was then that he realized that they were far past Nico’s reading, and had to ask where they were. “It would help for you to follow if you took out those earplugs, wouldn’t it?” his teacher responded, but didn’t help. Will took out the earbuds, having forgotten to take them out earlier, and Kayla leaned over and whispered where they were.  
He ran through his book to find the paragraph, and began to read. “Helios was the titan of the sun, though that was changed when the gods took over. Apollo, son of Zeus, rode the sun chariot every day, and his sister Artemis rode the moon. Apollo was also the god of music, poetry, health, archery, among other things. He had lovers, both male and female, but was not known for as many relationships as some other gods,” Will started to lose his composure and turned a little red, “Artemis was sworn to be a virgin and had young girls join her in her hunt by swearing to never love a man and they would become immortal. She was the goddess of fertility, the hunt, and archery.”  
He leaned back in his chair with a small sigh, knowing that he had skipped over some of the words. He turned slightly to look at Nico, and was surprised to see his earthy eyes focused on him, and they both slightly blushed and looked away. Will focused on the book from then on, and waited until after class to deal with his racing heart.

“C’mon dude, spill. Who is she? You obviously had your head in the clouds. Was it that Reyna girl who was reading right before you?”  
“No. Leave me alone. I’ve gotta practice,” Will said, trying to get Percy to go away. He was supposed to be an upperclassman, but had gotten held back because of some kind of incident last year then had gone missing for months. Nobody was telling what had happened, but he managed to attach himself to Kayla like a leech, and then consequently Will. Probably because Kayla and Annabeth were on the same softball team, and he had a thing for Annabeth.  
“Practice? Thought you hadn’t done that in years,” Percy replied, leaning against a chair.  
Will packed up the rest of his things, then they started walking. “I found a reason to play again, but first I’ve gotta get better. Besides, studies have shown that musicians are more intelligent than non-musicians. Might be good for my grades.”  
“Alright, anything to crack that shell I guess, Dr. Solace.”  
“Oh shut up,” Will said, then they ended up by the sports area.  
“Well then, I’m off. See ya tomorrow!”  
“Have fun with swimming. Blow them outta the water!”  
Will kept walking after Percy disappeared into the locker room. He turned out of the school and started to head home. He dropped his backpack at the front door and forgot to take off his shoes. He went straight to the piano. He stretched out his fingers, and lifted the cover off of the keys. He stared at their black and white glory for a while, then pressed a note. Then another. And another. Soon he was playing to his own enjoyment, no song in particular. He thought that maybe if he didn’t have any sheet music that he could play and hear himself. It was fine for a while, until a C didn’t come out.  
He glared at the key, then got up. He grabbed a glass of water and made himself some dinner. Then he went back to it. He tried just playing through his scales going up as far as he could, but he couldn’t hear anything by the Bb scale. He went and did his homework. At this point it was creeping up towards midnight, but he was determined to play some more. He sat down at his piano and went through his head.  
What is easy and short to play that I could get through? “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” as arranged by Bach. Easy enough, so he began to play the keys, but only got through the beginning. “How I wonder” never played. Instead he hit the same note repeatedly. F. F. F. F F F F FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.  
F.  
F.  
F.  
He never heard it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A heads up, this is slightly different from the ylia story, so even if you do spoil the show plotline, it may not be true ;) But please, don't spoil regardless since there may be some readers who are only acquainted with solangelo, and that is perfectly fine! Thanks for reading!  
> P.S. I did search for the exact notes to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and that was the note that's in the right part of the song, I didn't just pick the note "f" for no reason.


	3. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A continuation of the last chapter. A solangelo ylia au

“What was with last night? You just kept playing the same note over and over again. It really got annoying.”  
Will didn’t respond to Kayla. Instead, he just watched his feet step after step. Consistently walking down the sidewalk, never looking up. Kayla waved her hand in front of his face, and he finally payed attention to her.  
“Helloooo. Earth to Will. What’s up? And don’t you dare tell me that the sky is, I get enough of that from Annabeth.”  
“I still can’t hear it, the piano. I’m fine for a while, but then it just stops. I wonder if something’s wrong with me.”  
“Well, I’m no fairy, so I can’t say for certain, but I think that you just need something to help you stay grounded.”  
“Hm, maybe. Oh well. It’s a problem for another day.”  
“If you say so.”  
They continued to walk to school in silence, Kayla eating the rest of her granola bar and Will staring at the floor. They went to their lockers, then met up again when Will walked into the classroom. Kayla was talking to Nico, but Will didn’t want to have to deal with potentially humiliating himself, so he just sat at his desk and read some more of his book on human anatomy.  
“Good morning class, we will be continuing our study on Greek myths. Kayla, would you like to read about Icarus on page 250?”  
“Icarus grew up with his father, Daedalus, in their labyrinth which Daedalus had created to trap the bull, then were trapped in themselves. Daedalus designed wings made of bird feathers and wax to free them, and Icarus was warned not to fly too high or the wings would melt. Icarus forgot his father’s warning while they were flying, with him experiencing freedom for the first time, and flew too close to the sun. He plummeted to his death and his father landed safely, though resenting his son’s foolishness.”  
Well, that’s lovely, Will thought. The myths were all fake, but they were all meant to teach a lesson. Icarus must have been to keep people from getting too prideful. Too bad he had to die, though. Will thought that maybe he was an Icarus, who had won too many awards, and now he was paying the price with not being able to hear his own playing.

“Hey Will, you’re going to meet me at the playground tomorrow, okay? 1:45, no later. See ya then!”  
“Do I not even get a say in this?” Will bellowed. Sometimes his schedule was determined by Kayla, and he had to obey. She would torment him otherwise. The next day was a Saturday, and he had nothing going on anyways. So the playground it was.  
He kicked off his shoes and headed upstairs to the music room. He wondered how they managed to get a piano in there, but decided that it was just there and always would be. He grabbed a duster and took to the top of it. It was a lot more dust than he’d realized, and he had to clean out the duster three times before the piano was shiny again. He thought that he’d call a tuner on Sunday to make sure it was all set.  
He went over to the bookshelf on the wall, and scanned through the different pieces. “Love’s Joy” was what he picked, and the title seemed oddly familiar. But he started running through the piece, and it was much different than anything he’d heard before. He read it perfectly, translating dots on lines into sound, every dynamic, tempo, key, and duration absolutely perfect from the moment he started. He simply couldn’t play sheet music freely. It had been ingrained into him to play what was written, and not to question the composer.  
He stopped after a time of not being able to hear it. He splashed his face with water and stared at himself in the mirror. He took into account every imperfection, every freckle, every red spot, every dark spot, the bags under his eyes, his chapped lips, his asymmetrical eyebrows, and his tilted chin. Then he looked at those imperfections and told himself that it didn’t matter. He wasn’t in the world to look pretty, he was there to save lives.  
After drying off with a towel, he went into his bedroom, which didn’t have much that was notable. There was a bed that was covered in an odd assortment of blankets and pillows, a desk that had all sorts of random things covering it, and a bookcase which was missing some books that were likely on the ground. Will picked up the book that was on his nightstand and put in his earbuds, and read about the process of mitosis as his head filled with the sounds of the violin. He was torn with remaining to focus on his studies or pursue his lost love for music. He fell asleep before he could make up his mind.  
In his dreams there was a piano, and Michael, his pet cat. Michael was sprawled over the top of the piano, bringing all of Will’s insecurities to light. His inability to play creatively, his lack of acquaintances, Michael’s death, his mother’s death, his deafness to the piano. It was all his fault. If only he hadn’t played with Michael, if only he read the score perfectly, if only he was the best at the beginning, if only he could let go, if only he could hear the piano. It was all his fault.  
When he woke up, his eyes were red and stung, and he had trouble untangling himself from the comforter. A sharp pain shot through his ears as he sat up, and his headphones hit his thigh. The book was on the floor, some of the pages bent from landing open face-down. His phone was still playing that same song on repeat. “Nico Di Angelo”. Maybe he would talk to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! :) This chapter was a bit shorter, but that's just for things to roll smoothly. The next chapter will be much longer to make up for this!


	4. Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A continuation from the last chapter. A solangelo ylia au

Will threw on some reasonable clothes, and tugged on his shoes as he went out the door. The sun was high in the sky, and the cherryblossoms lining the street seemed to glow. He made his way to the park, and when he got there, he saw the man himself sitting on a bench, munching on a popsicle. Will turned immediately rather than talking to him. Too soon!  
He found some kids who seemed to be organizing a music session, but they needed one more person. “Hey, could I join you guys?” he asked, since he was there early. The kids handed him a melodica, which he was slightly concerned about, but figured that he’d give it a shot. It was a rudimentary instrument, and since he could play the piano, this should be a piece of cake.  
He took off his satchel and shoes, and climbed onto the top of the dome. He started to play a little melody that he couldn’t remember the name of, and was pleased that every note came out as planned. It was so beautiful, being able to hear every note he played. He hadn’t felt that in a long time. He heard footsteps coming up from behind him, and when he turned the wind blew a tear down his cheek. He saw Nico watching, and chose to ignore him.  
The kids started to climb to the top of the dome, and joined him in playing. They were talking about pigeons coming to the sound of the music. Will started playing again and they joined in with their instruments. He felt so warm surrounded by such joy, and he was having so much fun. He looked up and saw the pigeons starting to fly closer, and the kids started to cheer while Will kept playing. Then a huge gust of wind came and blinded Will. When he opened his eyes again, he saw spots of pink scattered over the blue sky.  
The pink reflected in Will’s eyes, and it was hard to tell the difference between the two scenes. Nico had picked up a book that had fallen out of Will’s satchel and was flipping through it. Will looked down from his dome and saw this, then jumped onto the grass and marched over to Nico. “What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded as he grabbed the book from Nico’s fingers.  
“It just fell out of your bag, and I picked it up…” Nico tried to save himself. But it was worthless. Will already had a plan in mind.  
“You were trying to steal it, weren’t you?” He grabbed Nico’s shirt and pulled him as though he was about to beat him up. “Weren’t you? Those books are worth hundreds of dollars, and you wanted to make off with one, isn’t that right? Well listen here…”  
“Will, what the hell are you doing?” Kayla said, sauntering over to the two boys. She picked up Will’s shoes and made like she was about to throw them into the pool.  
“No!” Will shouted, reaching for them before she could throw them, causing him to let go of Nico. Kayla handed him the sneakers and he put them on quickly, glaring at her from time to time.  
“Hey Will, what’s up?” Percy called from behind. He’d just arrived as Nico was pulling himself back into composure.  
“Oh Percy, it’s you. This is Nico, he wanted to meet you. I do believe that a little introduction is in order,” Kayla stated as she went in between the two boys. “We all know Percy Jackson, captain of the swimming team, and for some reason very popular even though he got held back a year from a mysterious disappearance. And this is Nico, a rising violinist, lover of sweets and all things music.”  
“Hello,” the two said at the same time.  
Kayla leaned over and elbowed Percy, and whispered, “See, told ya he was cute. We all know that Annabeth’s a tough nut to crack, so might as well give him a chance.”  
Nico was cute, without a doubt. Though he didn’t seem overly happy or excited, his eyes twinkled and he had the aura of a muffin. He seemed so calm and cuddly and Why am I thinking about this?  
“And over here, we’ve got Will Solace, who can be friend A,” Kayla finished.  
Nico turned to Will, and gave a small wave. Just then, the town clock tolled the hour, and Nico gave a little jolt, “I’m going to be late!” And took off running.  
“Wait, where are we going?” Will called.  
“The competition of course!” Nico shouted, then held up a violin case that was black and covered with stickers from places all over the world. Will stumbled a bit, then Kayla grabbed his wrist and pulled him after her.

The music hall was filled with people, but Nico was the only musician. He started off towards the backstage entrance, and called “Wish me luck!”  
“We’ll be the ones cheering the loudest!” Percy replied. They grabbed their programs and headed into the auditorium. There was a decent turnout for a competition like this. It was only the second year with piano accompaniment and violin leads, yet it was picking up steam. The song for this competition was “Violin Sonata No. 9” by Kreutzer. Nico was to be competitor number four, so there were three performances before his.  
All around them, they heard chatter of Will. “The human metronome.” “Haven’t seen him in a while.” “I heard he couldn’t even hear anymore.” The others seemed concerned about all the talk, as it wasn’t necessarily good, but Will didn’t even flinch. He had grown used to it. Though it had been a while, the voices of the onlookers didn’t pierce him any harder than they had before. The lights started to dim, and the first performer entered the stage.  
At first Percy was at least trying to be attentive, but it didn’t take long for him to be out cold. Kayla was just calmly listening to the performances. They were nothing special, and Will could tell where each performer would get points off.  
Then Nico entered the stage. He was dressed in his finest suit, black from top to bottom with a grey button-up shirt under his jacket. His long hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and he seemed to have a changed stature. He stood up taller, and his violin shone pristinely in his hand, the wood having a reddish tint though still ominously dark. He looked like an angel, and he captivated the audience. You would have forgotten that he was followed by his accompanist, a woman roughly in her late twenties.  
He bowed at center stage, and propped his instrument under his chin, and looked at the strings as though he were to begin a duet with the violin caressed in his arms. He turned, and nodded to his accompanist, then brought up his bow. He drew a long vibrato, then took off. He pulled each notes by the reigns, taking them where he wanted to go, his accompanist falling behind. He was on a chariot, weaving his way through the audience, completely unpredictable and cutting through the piece in a hurricane.  
Will was trapped in the motion that Nico brought from the piece. Kayla was leaning forward onto the seats in front of her, and his playing even got Percy to wake up. The audience was silent, absorbed into the world that Nico had created with his violin. It was obvious that the piano was lagging, but Nico persisted, and went at his own flow, a rebellious spirit. His wings took flight and his feathers were left scattered across the stage. The song was hardly recognizable, but it was still unmistakably Kreutzer. But it belonged to Nico Di Angelo, the angel of music.  
The song ended, but most of the crowd was still silent, until a giant roar emerged. It was unlike anything Will had ever seen. Nico was breathing heavily, but he wore a gentle grin. He lowered his violin and looked up at the lights, waiting a moment to allow his accompanist to stand up. She was also breathing heavily, but did not look nearly as satisfied as Nico. They bowed, and the audience was still cheering as they exited the stage.  
Will didn’t stand once. He was too captivated by the performance. Next to him, Kayla and Percy were hollering, and they looked ready to pounce over their seats. An intermission was called, and they exited the auditorium. Everybody was talking about Nico now. The group waited for him to exit the backstage area, and there was already a crowd forming to meet him.  
When he finally came out, he was in his street clothes again, which seemed impossible to wear in the warm weather to Will, but he didn’t look overheated at all. A couple of girls ran up to him, and they gave him a bouquet of flowers, the colorful assortment contrasting his demeanor. The girls seemed to notice and second-guessed their choice, but Nico gave them an innocent smile and took the flowers from them.  
“Thank you, they’re lovely,” he said, then turned to Will and the others and got off his knees. He patted the girls on the head and said, “I have to go,” then started walking over to them. Will was just about to jump for joy, because that performance was amazing, but then Percy walked up to Nico and threw his arm around his shoulder.  
“Man, that was amazing! I had no idea you could play like that!” Percy exclaimed, which made Nico blush a bit.  
Then Will remembered. Nico liked Percy. He was just Friend A. So he stayed in the background and watched Nico be happy, then he was taken by surprise by Nico, who started to walk over to Will. “So, Friend A, how was it?”  
Will started to blush a little bit, because Nico seemed to get really close, but still as gentle as ever. “It was astounding,” was all he could say.  
“Hm,” Nico sighed, seemingly dissatisfied with this response. Then he started to walk out, violin in one hand, and flowers in the other.  
“Where are you going?” Kayla shouted.  
“I was completely off-tempo and even screwed my accompanist up. There’s no way I would even make the listings,” Nico responded over his shoulder, then just kept walking. Percy chased after him, and Kayla and Will were left standing in the lobby.  
“Well, I suppose I’ll head off, then. You coming?” Kayla directed her question at Will, who was still watching where Nico had left the building.  
“No, I think I’ll stay. Check the listings just in case.”  
“If you say so. That was quite the performance, wasn’t it?”  
“Yeah, like an angel.”  
“Kind of. Well, I’m off. See ya later!”  
“Bye,” Will said as Kayla walked off. He looked at the program and saw that there were five more contestants. He knew that it wasn’t likely that Nico would make it, heck, he practically took a machete to the sheet music. But he had to see that he was the best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks so much for reading! This chapter was a bit of a rollercoaster, but I hope you enjoyed it!  
> I made twitter and tumblr accounts that you can follow me on if you want to ask questions, make recommendations, etc! @Ciel_Works or https://cielworks.tumblr.com


	5. Part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A continuation of the last chapter. A solangelo ylia au

“Nico! Nico, look! You moved on to the next round as the audience’s favorite!” Will was practically exploding with excitement when they got back to school on Monday. He’d checked the postings, after having waited through the same song over and over. He thought that this might happen, after Nico had turned the competition into a concert.  
“Hm?” Nico was staring at his textbook. “Oh, I’m not going.”  
Will stopped. He needed to process this a moment. Then said, “What do you mean you’re ‘not going’? You have to! The crowd loved you!”  
“That’s exactly why,” Nico said, and rolled his eyes over to Will, like it was obvious. “I made my stage, and that’s how it’s going to end. Why try to top what’s already the best?”  
“What? You can’t just stop! Give them another performance!”  
“Look, my accompanist already bailed on me. There’s not enough time to find another one before the next performance.”  
“I’ll be your accompanist!” Will blurted before he thought about it. What was he thinking, he couldn’t even play in practice, let alone for a wild card. He hadn’t been on stage in years, so why should he go back now? He had such a secure track for med school and everything…  
“No thanks.”  
Will blinked. “Excuse me?”  
“I said no thanks. I don’t need a pianist who hasn’t played in years backing me up. I’d only screw you up and then we’d both be in a pickle.”  
“Well then. I’ll make you eat your words, Di Angelo. You’re going to play at that competition, and I’m going to be your accompanist.”  
Nico’s stubbornness and refusal of Will’s help only made Will more determined to help him. That night, Will went home and found the piece that was to be played at the next round. “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso” by Saint-Saëns. He found a copy of the sheet music and put it in front of the piano. He uncovered the keys and stared at the pearly white keys.  
“You will play for me. You will let me hear you and you will sound beautiful,” he told his piano, as though the inanimate object could hear him. He played the keys, the first part of the piece being light and airy. Then he attacked the keys with as much ferocity as he could muster, and he could hear that half of the piece was missing. The song was pointless without the violin, and he could hear the notes no longer. He closed the lid and took a hot shower to calm his nerves.  
He then put his earbuds in and listened to the first song he heard Nico play. I will get him to do it. I swear I will. He fell asleep listening to the strings.

The next day, Will started talking to Kayla like he’d just figured out how to travel to Mars. He’d burned a copy of “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso” to play on the announcements. The thing was getting the principal to allow it.  
“It’s a classical song and you’re the top student in this school. I’m sure that they’d let you play it,” Kayla said when he was contemplating his chances.  
“Yeah, but I want it to play over and over again. At least until Di Angelo agrees to play it at the competition.”  
“Over and over? He seemed pretty adamant about not playing it.”  
“I’ve got until Friday. Then the competition starts. I’ll drag him onto the stage if I have to,” he proclaimed, with a mischievous smile playing his lips.  
Kayla gave him a side glance, and stated, “You’re insane.”  
“If insane is what it takes, then that’s what I’m going to have to be.”  
“Weirdo.”  
“Bully.”  
They arrived at the school, and they split to their lockers. Will took the CD to the principal's office and tried to get him to play it on repeat.  
“I can’t play it for the whole day, but here’s what I can do for you. I’ll play it during lunch hour, and it will be on repeat until the students go back to their classes. I havonlye no clue what this is for, but I’m sure that nobody would mind some music,” was the principal’s response to the odd request.  
Will lit up from that response, and seemed like a little kid when he said, “Oh, thank you so much Principal Chiron!”  
“Now hurry off to homeroom otherwise you’re going to be late.”  
“Sure thing. Thanks again!” Will called as he ran off to class.  
After he was out, Chiron said to himself, “I have no idea how he got to be top of the class, but it’s good to see that our top student isn’t cracking under the pressure.”

As promised, at lunch hour, “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso” started to come over the loudspeaker. The violin and piano were scarcely audible, but there. Most of the students took notice, and paused to listen. When it just kept going, they resumed their business as always.  
The only ones who didn’t were Will and Nico. Nico was trying to eat a sandwich in the classroom like he always did, but Will wouldn’t stop pestering him. “I bet we could play this five times better,” he boasted.  
“Nope,” Nico responded, then took a bite of his sandwich.  
“What do you mean, ‘nope’? We’re the best players in the area!”  
Nico took some time to swallow, “Yeah, the human metronome and the boy who can’t stick to any tempo. Sure, we may be good on our own, but together would be a trainwreck.”  
Will knew that Nico was right, but if he could just get him onstage, “What if I made a deal with you? Say, five canelés?”  
Before taking a sip of his juice, he stopped to think, seriously contemplating the offer. “Nope.”  
“Ten.”  
“Nah.”  
“Twenty.”  
“No.”  
“One hundred.”  
Nico gave him the same glance that Kayla had that morning, as if to say ‘You’re smart but off your rocker.’  
“Okay, I can’t afford that,” Will admitted.  
“So then you’ve got nothing,” Nico said.  
Will just silently admitted his defeat and went to the other side of the classroom to eat his salad. Percy walked in shortly after and sat in the chair in front of Nico’s desk and leaned back to talk to him. Nico seemed to turn really friendly and sociable.  
Because he liked Percy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all my readers: you guys are the best! Thank you for reading!  
> Twitter: @Ciel_Works  
> Tumblr: CielWorks


	6. Part 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A continuation of the last chapter. A solangelo ylia au

All too soon, Friday rolled around, and Nico hadn’t touched his violin since, while Will took every break to either practice or pester Nico into playing with him. The same song played repeatedly over the speakers at lunch to the point where students started complaining. Will had gotten Nico and himself exempt from afternoon classes for the performance, but Nico was still planning on attending.  
The music could be heard through the halls, along with the tapping of shoes that grew more rapid through a stairwell that led to the roof, where Will burst through the door with all his glory. Nico witnessed his blond hair capturing the sunlight and radiating like a halo from his spot hidden in the corner.  
Will turned around and spotted him, “Eating on the roof? How cliché.”  
“H-how did you find me?” Nico asked, spilling half of his yogurt.  
“Well, you weren’t in any of the classrooms, the bathrooms, the musicrooms, the sports areas, the art rooms, the lobbies, the hallways, or the cafeterias, so I figured you had to be in the only place left to check.”  
Nico then realized how out of breath Will was, but he stood just as strong as always. He wasn’t going to give in despite Will’s efforts, “I’m not going.”  
“Yes you are.” That was the first time Will was so straightforward with his request.  
“I don’t even know the music.”  
“I plastered it everywhere you could look, and you listened to it everyday in lunch repeatedly for a week. You could at least half-ass it.”  
“No.”  
What Will did next, Nico never would have imagined. He bowed to him, and teardrops could be seen falling, reflecting the same sunlight that had given him a halo. “Please. If nothing else, just do this. You don’t understand how close I am to just giving up right now.” His voice was ragged, strained. Nico was appalled by it, and wanted to do everything he could to make him stop.  
“Fine, I’ll do it. No need to get so worked up about it,” he said as he stood up from his lunch.  
Will stood up again, and he was smiling, but the tears were genuine. “Thank you.”  
He grabbed Nico’s wrist and tugged him down the stairs and got out to the front entrance, where Kayla and Percy were waiting. “How are we even going to get there in time?” Nico demanded.  
Percy grinned and said, “Leave that to us.”

Ten minutes later, the group appeared in front of Rome Music Hall on two bicycles, Nico behind Percy and Will behind Kayla. They hopped off, and Nico and Will ran inside.  
“Break legs!” Kayla and Percy shouted.  
Luckily Nico had kept his violin at school, so they were able to make it just in time for the competition to start. Their ties had come loose from the wind, and were billowing behind them as they ran into the hall. Nico had always hated the orange tie, but he was thankful that their school uniforms were black because he had nothing else to wear. Will was prepared, and had an extra pair of shoes waiting for Nico in place of his usual high tops.  
When Will exited the changing room, he saw Nico in a side hallway holding his arms up as though he were wielding a violin, frantically running through the notes in the little time he had left. Will walked over, and grabbed his right shoulder, making him jerk around. Will saw a wildness in his eyes that wasn’t usually there.  
“I don’t know the piece. I can’t go on like this. Solace, how did I let you drag me into this?” He was spouting rapid fire, and Will gripped him harder, grabbing his other shoulder. He put his forehead against Nico’s, none too gently, and closed his eyes.  
When he opened them again, it was like Nico had just been transported outdoors. “Look at me. You’re going to be fine. You’re amazing, and your music has touched more hearts than you will ever know. It’s your job to touch those hearts again. It doesn’t matter if we screw up, if the song ends up turning into something totally different. We’ll pull through, and if all else fails, we’ll start again. Okay?”  
Something rang through in Will’s voice that made Nico calmer, and made him sure of himself. Without missing a beat, Will reached into Nico’s hair and pulled back the long, dark strands that covered his eyes into a ponytail, never shifting his gaze. Soft, like a cat, Will thought.  
“Nico Di Angelo, you’re up next,” was announced from the stage doors. Nico pulled back and slapped his cheeks. He reached down to the bench behind him and picked up the devilish violin.  
“Okay.”  
They went backstage just as the kid before them was finishing. The audience was applauding, and Will felt his hands start to shake. Two years since he set foot on stage. He’d never felt nervous before, maybe it was because he hadn’t successfully played a song in years. He saw the piano ahead of him, shining as truly as was righteous.  
The exiting accompanist passed by him, and he remembered that he was going to have to play it. A Steinway grand piano. He’d dragged Nico into this, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to regret it.  
They walked out onto the stage, Will slightly behind Nico, and took their respective positions. Will stared at the keys, a landscape of perfection. He looked at Nico, who was nothing like the piano before him. A piano was calculated, each note precise. Nico was a wild card, able to drag out parts of you you didn’t even know existed.  
Nico took a long drag of air, then turned to Will, and nodded. They started slow, both of them holding up well, then Nico played his first turn. He skipped through the first part, and Will had to pull himself off of the conveyer belt that never changed speed except when directed, and give himself over to the whims of the angel.  
The song went to its first major change, and Nico sped up, his violin at his complete control, and Will following behind. Then it happened. The notes went deaf, and his only knowledge of pace, note, or key was from Nico’s violin. He knew that he was lagging and throwing Nico off course, but he couldn’t even hear himself. He felt isolated and alone, like he was ever since that time.  
It was right before a piano competition, but he moved forward anyways. Why was she stuck in his mind? He’d wanted her to go away, but she’d only gotten closer when she left. She robbed him of his freedom, and he couldn’t hear his own playing. Right there on the stage, he’d stopped and cried, completely humiliating himself. The top pianist fell from his throne and turned into a ghost, haunted by his own mother.  
He looked down at his hands, and saw that they had stopped. He could still hear the strings, but then Nico lowered his bow. Will looked at Nico, who seemed to be in the middle of combat, though they were both just struck down by the enemy.  
“Again?” he asked.  
Will expected him to hate him. He’d dragged him out here and now he couldn’t even play. But Will remembered Nico from before and then while he was on stage. He was in battle, and when you were fighting you couldn’t back down. Again.  
Will nodded, and he started up again slowly, letting Nico guide him, but staying by his side for when he tripped and fell. Will was no angel, but Nico was as close to one as they got. They could soar upon his wings. Their song was made of nothing but emotion and trust in each other. For once Will felt free with his own instrument and he pulled different tones than he thought were imaginable. There came a point where he couldn’t hear it, but he internalized the music, the feeling, and played on. He didn’t care if he hit the wrong notes or messed up the rhythm. He was going to play.  
When they finished, it was silence. The audience was dumbstruck. They couldn’t tell if the performance was horrid or exquisite. The musicians didn’t play it correctly, and even stopped mid-concert, but they could feel everything. Every note sent a warmth through them that said, ‘I won’t give up. Not now, not ever. This is what I live for.’  
The pianist joined the violinist at the front of the stage, and they bowed. The audience blew up in applause, and before they stood back up, Nico looked over at Will and gave him a satisfied smile. Will grinned like an idiot in return. They straightened their backs, and turned to walk offstage.  
Will followed Nico, and watched as his hair flopped back and forth in his ponytail. Will couldn’t stop smiling. He’d put on a performance, and had gotten Nico back on stage. He was just as wild as that recording, but his true feelings weren’t expressed properly. Will had thought that Nico was sad and frustrated, but he was happy, excited, and full of life.  
Full of life… until he fell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! This chapter was really long, but I hope you enjoyed! Feel free to leave comments or kudos (please do, they're practically my only motivation).  
> Follow me on:  
> Twitter: @Ciel_Works  
> Tumblr: CielWorks


	7. Part 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuation of the last chapter. A solangelo ylia au

“Are you sure that it was nothing?” Kayla prodded.  
They were at the hospital a few hours after Nico collapsed. An ambulance was called, and Nico was out of commission for a while. It was right before they got offstage, and Kayla and Percy came running to them, and Will could only stand there in shock. He’d been fine, then he all of a sudden fell right in front of him. But for some reason, he’d almost expected it.  
“Yeah, they just need to run a few more tests. Nothing to worry about, they’re just doing their job,” Nico replied. Will knew that was a lie. He couldn’t be energetic then collapse for hours and be fine. But he wasn’t going to tear the hole wider.  
Will was standing in the back while Kayla interrogated and Percy comforted Nico. He obviously didn’t want that much attention, but there was no way of getting those two off of him. That is, until the nurses made them.  
Just as was assured, Nico was back in classes on Monday. He didn’t bring his violin with him, but Will was sure he understood why. A musician’s instrument was their lifeline.  
Will didn’t talk to him that day, figured Nico wouldn’t want to. It was very quiet while he was eating, which he didn’t know was punishment or if that was just what Nico wanted. He put in his earbuds and scanned through his songs, looking for something good. Then he got to “Nico Di Angelo”. He thought he was so different, but now he didn’t know what to think. He played the song. The sadness was fitting.  
After school he was still listening to that song. He was walking out after everybody else had already left, and didn’t expect to come across anyone. But a pair of hightops were visible past his game of Angry Valkyries. He stopped and looked up to see Nico gazing at the cherry blossoms blowing through the wind. Some were caught in his hair, which he found cute, and giggled.  
“Hm? Oh, hi Friend A. Have you seen Percy?” Nico asked.  
“No, I think he’s at swim practice. What’s up?”  
“Nothing, I just wanted to walk home with him.”  
Will returned to looking at his hightops.  
“Buuuuut, if he’s going to be a while, then I suppose that you could fill his spot.”  
“Huh? But I thought that you hated me.”  
“Hated you? You’re annoying, but I certainly couldn’t hate you,” Nico said.  
“But it’s my fault that you collapsed. I pushed you onstage even though you didn’t want to and screwed up your performance,” Will apologized a bit loudly.  
“But I’m fine now, aren’t I? Plus, I had fun.”  
Will looked up at him again, maintaining eye contact. Nico really didn’t look angry; amused, if anything. “Alright. Where to?”  
A few minutes later, Will found himself opposite a stack of waffles drenched in syrup and gods know what else. Behind that was Nico, wielding a fork and knife that were drilling into the dessert as fast as he could chew.  
“You must really like sweets,” Will was amazed.  
Nico swallowed a huge bite before replying, “There’s only one thing I can think of that I love more than sweets.”  
“And what’s that?”  
“Music.”  
“Understandable.”  
As if on queue, the piano started to play on the wall. There were two girls, and one seemed to be showing her “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” which was a fundamental piece in learning piano. Will’s eyes lit up as he watched the girls. He didn’t even notice Nico get up and walk over to them.  
“Hey, that guy over there is a really good pianist. He could probably show you a few things,” he told the girls.  
This was completely without Will’s consent, but the girls seemed to take immense interest, and he couldn’t turn down a child’s wishes. So he got up and walked over to the piano. It wasn’t anything special, just white and had some plants on it. Clearly mainly for decoration, but still playable.  
“You can play the left hand part, and I’ll play the upper part,” he suggested to her.  
He put his foot on the pedal, since she couldn’t reach, and Nico counted them in. At first it was just the usual melody, but then he started to experiment and reached into his memory for all the different variations. His fingers seemed to grow minds of their own, and he took off. The little girl stopped, and the whole café looked at him in awe. He was fine for a while, but eventually he had to stop with nothing else to lean on. He gave a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of his neck, trying to play it off.  
Nico scowled and returned to his seat. The girls thanked and praised Will, and when he was finally able to get away Nico had already paid and was waiting for Will by the door. He tried to play cool, keeping a bubbly persona, but it wasn’t hard for Nico to penetrate the false pretense.  
“What happened back there?”  
“Oh, nothing. Just clammed up is all. Happens sometimes.”  
“But it shouldn’t happen every time. I know that you never got through that whole song in practice for the performance. It was totally off for the second half and it felt like I was carrying the two of us even though I’d never even played the song before.”  
Will didn’t know how to answer. If he spilled everything, then Nico may never want to see him again, but at the same time it wasn’t good to lie. He compromised and changed the topic, “Oh look, a black cat!” He ran over to the creature in a small park.  
Nico caught up when Will crouched down to scratch its ears. “You seem fond of cats.”  
“Yeah. I used to have one that looked just like this one when I was a kid.”  
“What happened to it?” Nico asked as he bent down beside Will.  
The cat ran away, and Will stood up. He had an air of melancholy around him. “One day I was playing with him, and I guess that he got too excited. He scratched my hand, just enough to draw blood. My mom patched it up, and the next day I came home from school and he was gone. She said that he wasn’t good to have around if I was going to be a pianist.”  
“Your mother sounds strict.”  
“She was,” Will trailed off.  
Nico backed up a bit, and changed the mood, “April’s almost over.” After Will didn’t respond, he tried again, “why’d you divert my question?”  
Will turned to face Nico, who was now looking at the cherry blossoms. “I didn’t lie.”  
“But you didn’t tell the truth,” he stated as he turned around.  
Will looked down at the cement. “I can’t hear the notes anymore.”  
“Well that’s strange.”  
Nico didn’t seem at all phased or sympathetic. “What do you mean by that? You calling me strange?”  
“No, not you. But you not being able to hear the notes. Why would you want to play if you couldn’t even hear yourself?”  
“I don’t know,” Will admitted. “Maybe I thought that if I could play again, I could stop remembering. I thought that I’d forgotten, but she’s still right behind me every time I think about playing again. But you just seemed so free, so full of life, that maybe I could counter that by playing with you. I guess I was wrong.”  
“But you made it through the whole thing, didn’t you? That’s gotta count for something.”  
Will didn’t know how to respond, so he didn’t. He started to look up, but Nico wasn’t in the spot he was at when they started the conversation. He lifted his head up more and caught sight of a figure dressed in black, head to toe, receding into the distance on the road. “Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Will shouted at him, bringing the attention of some passerbys.  
“If you’re not gonna talk, then I’m not gonna stay,” he yelled in response, not giving Will the satisfaction of a glance.  
He didn’t want Nico to leave, but Will didn’t know what he could do to get him to stay... for the moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading! Y'all are awesome! ^.^


	8. Part 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A continuation of the last chapter. A solangelo ylia au

Tuesday came, and it was pouring outside. The grey in the air hung and caught in people’s lungs, transporting the despair through their blood and to their hearts. The school had the mood of a goodbye that would not be met with a hello again. It was quiet for the first moments of the day, and the students studied their books for a test they had first period. Nico sat in his usual spot, undisturbed as usual, ready for the usual day.  
That day would not be today.  
He was scanning the textbook, picking up tidbits of information as he went that he thought might be on the exam, when papers slammed down on top of the next word which sent a breeze blowing his bangs out of his face. He tried to remain calm as he looked up at Will Solace, the only ray of sunshine that could possibly exist on such a dreary day as this. He was panting, and Nico took this opportunity to speak before a tangent would come.  
“What do you want, Solace?” He tried to sound exasperated, but he could only go so far as hiding his relief that Will didn’t hate him.  
Will let out a long breath, and placed his free hand on his chest in a fist, pushing himself to an upright position. Then he looked right into Nico’s eyes and smiled so brightly that the whole class no longer had remorse pumping through their veins. He held up the paper that he had slammed over Nico’s textbook under his nose, and as it was blank, the most interesting thing to look at were Will’s eyes which looked like heaven shaking with excitement.  
“What is that?” Nico questioned.  
Rolling his eyes, Will brought his pointer finger to the insignia on the top left of the parchment. Nico took a closer look and snached the paper from Will’s hands. It was an envelope from Olympus Music Hall, and it was already opened, evidently forcefully. He unfolded the paper inside, and on the top it said in fancy blue letters “CONGRATULATIONS!”  
“It arrived on Saturday. They want us to perform at their gala since we were such a big hit! And this time we can be prepared,” he stopped talking and put his hand over what Nico was reading yet again to grab his attention. “There is no way you’re turning this down. It’s not even a competition, and if we practice there’s no way we could screw up. Even though we completely flubbed up last time, they loved us. Proves that we’re the perfect duo, right? I even have the perfect song picked out-”  
After having finished reading the paper and listened to Will’s rant, Nico put his finger up to Will’s lips, silencing him. Nico didn’t see Will’s heart dancing, which made his cheeks tinge pink. “I will do this, on one condition.”  
Will pushed Nico’s arm down, which returned his heart to the normal, steady tempo, “Name it.”  
“Love’s Sorrow.”  
Will knew what Nico meant, and some of the outside air crept into his lungs. His eyes reflected the hanging fog. He hoped that it wasn’t what Nico meant, and in disbelief he asked, “Pardon?”  
Nico wasn’t looking at Will. He was back to scanning the paper. “It’s what we’ll play. We do that song or I’m not doing it at all.”  
He wanted to play again so badly, but that song nearly killed him. He didn’t want Nico to know, so he just feigned joy. “Alright, so then we’ll meet up after school to practice?”  
“Sure,” Nico responded. It was as if they switched attitudes, though they had different ways of showing it. Nico was excited to be playing with Will again. That stubbornness of the last competition had been a farce. He’d been practicing the song himself for weeks. Will, on the other hand, had too painful memories of that song to find delight in playing with the angel.

At lunch, Will ate across from Kayla while Percy flirted with the girls, and, well, Nico.  
“Ugh, he’s never gonna win over Annabeth with that attitude,” Kayla grumbled through a mouth full of sandwich.  
“I thought that you were rooting for ‘Percico’, though?” Will asked, half-heartedly. He put air quotes around the weird joined name that he was hearing from girls obsessed with the two for some odd reason.  
She finished chewing and swallowed the mush. “Nah, I was just doing a favor. Nico had asked me to introduce them, and so I did.” She glanced over her shoulder at Percy and Nico, who seemed to be fine holding conversation together. “Of course, I didn’t expect it to go so well.”  
Will looked at them for a while. Percy seemed to be telling stories meant to make Nico laugh, but the most expression shown was a smile and a blush. I bet that I could make him laugh, Will thought.  
“C’mon space cadet. How much of your brain has left orbit?”  
“Huh?” Will snapped his attention back to Kayla who was pointing her spoon at his nose.  
She sighed and scooped up some chocolate pudding. “I’m having a game today, last of the season. You should come,” she said, then stuffed the spoon into her mouth.  
Instead of answering her, Will avoided her gaze and turned his eyes to the window without looking at anything in particular. Kayla took this as an invite to lean in close as though she were inspecting an ancient statue, then coldly asked in a grandmotherly voice, “Why are you avoiding me?”  
Will carefully turned his head back to face Kayla, goosebumps raising the invisible hairs on his arms. She leant back into her chair and crossed her arms in front of her chest. The interrogation had begun.  
It wasn’t often, but sometimes Kayla would turn very serious and start asking questions that Will found difficult to answer. It was usually after something changed in Will’s mind or he was being more quiet for a time. The interrogations were frequent after his mother died, but thankfully with those she hadn’t pressed. Today he wasn’t getting out of it.  
Avoiding Kayla wasn’t the goal, he was simply… distracted. “I’m not avoiding you.”  
“Then what are you doing?” She retorted.  
I just want Nico to myself, he thought. “There’s a big biology test that I’m anxious about.”  
“I just had bio and there was nothing,” she stated, leaning forward into the table.  
Will didn’t know what to do so he just stayed quiet and averted his gaze, which just so happened to settle on Nico. Again.  
Kayla sat upright and dropped her hands to the table-top. She followed Will’s gaze to Nico, and Will quickly turned to look the other way where a kid was aiming a pudding shot with his spoon. She then turned her head slowly to look at Will again. A cold sweat trickled from his temples as she examined him.  
“No. Way.” She whispered, “You’re totally crushing on Nico!”  
“Am not,” Will defended a bit too quickly and loudly to defend his case. He was a bad liar and he knew it.  
Instead of facing the situation he opened his yogurt cup and started to shovel some into his mouth. He took note of all the different shades of grey that speckled the plastic lunch table.  
He was fine like that for a while, then he freaked when he realized that Kayla had been quiet for more than five seconds. He shot his head up and looked in the direction of Nico, which apparently was the worst timing ever. Nico was looking at Will while Kayla was whispering something in his ear.  
A burning sensation traveled from his cheeks to the tips of his ears, and he pulled his hoodie up over his head and took sudden interest in a book called The Red Pyramid which Kayla must have been reading.  
Holy crap holy crap holy crap holycrap holycrap holycrapholycrapholycrap!  
The words on the random page swirled around and he couldn’t make any sense of it except that there was this girl named Sadie and she had a weird cat. More importantly, none of his thoughts were making any sense.  
While his mind dashed from point A to point Z in the most roundabout ways possible, Kayla waved goodbye. Nico was still staring at Will, but what she said last must have really gotten to him because his eyes went wide and his face grew even redder than his watermelon. Percy nearly had his milk come out his nose, and he went to the bathroom to clean up what had spilled from his startlement.  
Once Kayla returned, Will returned his face to it’s usual tones which were then flushed to a pale that left his freckles as clear as stars on the countryside. Nico was absorbed in his lasagna as the girls around him scattered. Kayla’s smugness ticked Will off, and he got up and walked out of the cafeteria to the music room for the remainder of lunch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A midnight update after posting a few hours ago? Why not!  
> Hope you enjoyed!  
> As you can probably tell, this is where my story starts to drift from the ylia plot  
> Twitter: Ciel_Works  
> Tumblr: CielWorks


	9. Part 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A continuation of the last chapter. A solangelo ylia au

After the final bell Will collected his things and headed out of the classroom without his usual adieus. He’d almost escaped the eternally strained tension between his friends but Percy caught Will just before they left.  
“Hey, what was up at lunch today?” he asked after grabbing Will’s shoulder.  
Will turned around aggressively and shot daggers at Percy’s sea-green eyes. “I don’t know, you tell me,” he replied in a voice that was incentive to start a fight.  
Percy scrunched his eyebrows together and tried to bring down Will’s temper, “You’ve been acting strange lately. Is everything alright?”  
Will scoffed at Percy’s ignorance, “Oh yeah, everything’s just hoity toity in the life of a nerdy loser. Not that an all-star athlete such as yourself would care.”  
Percy backed up from the situation Will was creating and walked past crossed arms as he dashed out of the room. The rest of the class was almost gone, and Kayla marched up to Will, having witnessed the whole thing.  
“What the hell is your problem?” she shot at him.  
“What the hell is your problem?” he shot back.  
“I don’t know what’s gotten into you but you need to stop making whatever’s bothering you everyone’s mess.”  
“You wanna know what’s bothering me?” he snipped.  
“If it’ll make you stop, yeah.”  
“Then maybe you should have thought of that before you went around telling people things they don’t need to know.”  
The room was empty except for the two at this point.  
“When did I ever do such a thing?” she shouted.  
“At lunch!” Will returned.  
Kayla shifted her weight onto her back leg and crossed her arms over her chest, scoffing at Will out of spite. “Did you actually think that I told Nico? Especially loud enough for Percy to hear?”  
“Well what else was I to suspect?” Will flailed his arms open like he’d just given up on all his pent-up anger. “What else was I to guess when he was looking straight at me? When you were whispering in his ear after I practically told you I liked him? When Percy spilled his milk and dashed off? Huh?”  
She leaned forward and grabbed both of Will’s arms. His fire was gone and he looked about ready to collapse. “Dude, I told him a joke. Nothing more. He was probably looking at you because you were making a scene and I also may have said that you’d told me it. It wasn’t that bad but… I guess his mind isn’t as clean as we’d thought.” She started silently laughing, but Will still wasn’t satisfied.  
“What about Percy?”  
“Hm?” She was so caught up in remembering the joke that she’d forgotten about Percy. “He just heard the last part, which really is pretty bad out of context.”  
She completely lost it after that and her laughter filled the room. Her cheeks were tinged pink, and she even started crying a little. Will didn’t know what the joke was, but he was so relieved that his secret wasn’t out that he started to laugh a little too.  
They started to lose breath when Nico popped his head in. “Hey, hate to disturb whatever you’re laughing about, but I’ve been waiting in the practice room for a good ten minutes now.”  
Will looked up at the clock. It had only been five minutes since the bell rang. Puzzled, he turned back to Nico, but before he could say anything Kayla stepped up. “Sorry, I was just telling him a different joke. Seems I’ve kept the prodigies apart from their studies. I’ll be off, then.” She winked at Will and exited the room.  
Will was lost for words. He just stood there and watched the empty doorway. Nico, on the other hand, turned red yet again having remembered the infamous joke from before. He spun around and headed back out the door without a word. When the movement changed Will’s view he remembered basic functioning and followed Nico out.  
Will had to skip up to speed to catch Nico, but they started walking side by side down the hallway.   
For a few awkward moments they just went in silence, but Nico was surprisingly the first to break it. Will had been trying to find the right words to say but was completely failing. He’d handed Will a folder and said “Here’s the music for the piano and some guiding violin notes are written in. I copied them to eliminate page turns since the original was written in book format for some annoying reason.”  
As Will leafed through the papers he found that the violin part was hand-written. He also remembered that he’d just told Nico about it during homeroom this morning. “When did you even have time to do all of this?”  
Nico just gave me a sideways glance then returned his gaze forward. He started massaging the crease over his eyebrows and let out a sigh, “For the class genius you really can be quite stupid.”  
Not getting the hint, Will cocked his head to the side and Nico stopped walking to explain, “You know, I was the performer and you were the accompanist. Of course they sent the letter to me too, dimwit.” His tone was loaded with sarcasm, and Will got a bit embarrassed for having not thought of it.  
They started walking again, and Will started to confuse himself further as to why Nico had read the document so carefully that morning and why he was pretending to not want to do it. He decided not to ask though, as he didn’t want to make an even bigger fool of himself.  
At the end of the hallway they descended the stairs to the first level, and the first room was a practice room with Nico’s violin. They both entered and situated themselves.  
As Will was setting up his music, Nico was warming up his instrument with a tuner. Even his tuning is exquisite, Will thought. He was so captivated by the sound that he stopped what he was doing and started staring at the space between Nico’s neck and shoulder.  
“Are you ready or what?” a mildly annoyed voice cut through Will’s conscience. He brought himself back to reality and realized that Nico had stopped playing and he still had papers scattered around.  
He quickly set them in place and opened the piano cover. “Sorry, just spaced out a bit,” he said.  
“Seems that’s all you ever do,” Nico replied. Will thought that he was actually annoyed with him now, but when he caught a glance up at Nico’s face he saw the faintest smile.  
He returned to the piano. He had played the school’s practice pianos before, but it felt incredibly disappointing each time. He was used to a grand piano like what he had in his house, or an even richer one that they had at competitions. The stools were always covered with leather and you could raise or lower them to your height preference.  
The school’s pianos were nothing like that, probably because funding for the arts were going downhill. They were simple pianos that you could find in a parlor where it’s a straight back and doesn’t go out at all. Even the color was off. It was very light, more like a milk chocolate whereas the nicer pianos were generally black and sleek. There wasn’t even a felt cover to protect the keys. Will played a few notes to get a feel for the instrument and was instantly let down. He did not like this Yamaha one bit.  
The practice was not stellar. It took about fifteen tries to establish a common tempo, but Will was getting the hang of following Nico, and Nico was not flying around as he normally did. But the tempo was about all they got down. After an hour Nico said that he had to go and began to pack up. It was only after he left the room that Will let himself have emotions.  
He didn’t move. He stared at the keys, and his mind wandered to a time when he was a little boy. He remembered his mother playing the piano. At the time, she was still sweet, healthy, and most of all happy. He was still too small to play the grand piano, so he would sit underneath.  
The tune she was playing wasn’t happy. It was sad, but she played it with a smile, and Will had thought that it was the most beautiful thing. He remembered hiding under the piano to listen to her late at night playing that song very frequently. He would fall asleep there, and wake up in his bed the next day.  
He’d remembered seeing “Love’s Joy” also on the music shelf, and he’d asked his mother why she never played it. She said that the best love was the kind that survived even through pain, and that the joy of love was never as common as the pain of it. She took “Love’s Joy” and began to play, and Will understood what he meant. It didn’t feel right. He stopped her playing and she began “Love’s Sorrow” again.  
He wondered if his mother had forgotten about love all together once he started playing. His aunt was a bad influence. She would always be singing about her failed relationships, and the piano would produce a harsh sound that his mother never created. He had learned from both of them how to play.  
Then when his mother got sick… She didn’t play anymore. He learned to play by reading the score. His aunt didn’t come. He didn’t think that the piano had any emotional connection anymore. He didn’t feel sorrowful love or broken love. He didn’t feel anything.  
When he brought himself back to the present, he noticed that he was playing “Love’s Sorrow” exactly as his mother had. He must have been playing it subconsciously, and he started to mess up now that he was thinking about it. Out of frustration and pain from remembering his mother, he smashed the keys, and kept smashing as tears welled in his eyes. He took a breath to start screaming when he heard a crash right next to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Don't forget to leave comments and kudos, especially now that it's changing so much! I would like to hear your input!  
> Twitter: Ciel_Works  
> Tumblr: cielworks


	10. Part 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabeth is introduced and things are pretty weird

Kayla appeared at the window, which was now broken with a fist-sized hole. She peered inside and saw a kid with sandy hair that covered his face on the ground next to the piano. Her softball was on the floor a few feet away from him.  
“Hey Will, can you toss me the ball?”  
The kid moved, and he sat upright and rubbed his head. He turned his eyes to Kayla, a look of bitterness creasing his brows. He leaned over and grabbed the ball and threw it at the window, but it didn’t even make it as far as the end of the piano bench.  
A stifled laugh escaped Kayla, and Will just dejectedly looked down to the floor between his legs.  
“Hey what’s taking so long?” A blonde player jogged up next to Kayla. “Oh, you don’t look so good.”  
Will snapped to see a different peer than his normal friend group. “Annabeth…”  
“Hey Will, what’s wrong? Kayla didn’t hit you with her monster swing, did she?”  
Fixing his composure, he stood up and wobbled over to the window, reaching down to pick up the ball on the way. He dragged his forefinger and thumb over the red string holding the neon casing together. As he examined it, he noticed that a part of the string was broken.  
Instead of responding to Annabeth’s questions, he let them know about the broken string. “You might want to grab a new one.”  
Will opened the window while avoiding the glass on the floor. Kayla grabbed the ball from Will’s hand. “This,” she pronounced, holding the ball up, “is my lucky ball. Ain’t no way I’m trading this for any other on the last game of the year.”  
Hearing about the game made Will’s eyes go wide. “Oh shoot! I’m sorry, I totally forgot!”  
“No worries. I know you had practice with loverboy,” she smirked with a wink.  
Annabeth looked from Kayla to a sadly flustered Will. “Anything I should know about…?”  
Percy was the next to join the group. “Hey there Wise Girl!” he said, running up with a goofy grin on his face. Annabeth just rolled her eyes in response.  
Kayla didn’t even bother holding back her laugh, “Nah, I think you’ve got your own love problems.”  
Percy quizzically looked at Kayla, kind of a “what the hell?” look, then turned to Annabeth. “You’ve been playing great out there today!” he told her, “And your hair falls just as perfectly as a princess.”  
He moved to gently grab a lock in his fingers, but instead Annabeth turned her head so her curls smacked his nose. The hole in the back of the ballcap was the perfect place for her ponytail so she hit her target accurately. It seemed as though every aspect of her style was calculated to double as a weapon.  
Anyone would have thought that Percy was being rude chasing her around as he did, but Will and Kayla could see the amusement that her lips couldn’t conceal. They both looked at each other with a knowing glance, a kind of telepathy they had. Will could now see why Kayla was more of a “Percabeth” fan, and he agreed with her from just his first interaction with Annabeth.  
The only reason that Annabeth knew Will’s name was that she had memorized each individual student like a teacher does before the first day of school. Except instead of an attendance chart, she had a yearbook. She claimed that people were more likely to deem each other as comrades if they referred to each other by name, thus making everyone she spoke to more likely to join her campaign for class president. Everyone knew that she was going to win regardless.   
She was a “Wise Girl” as Percy called her, but most people preferred the term “smart-ass.” She was the highest in her class, the one that Percy was originally in. Basically unless some genius that never got anything wrong ever joined her class, she was the pre-determined Valedictorian. Nobody really wanted that to change since they all liked her anyways. Will was headed for the top spot for his class, but he was far more modest about it.  
With her eyes closed and her nose in the air, Annabeth said to Percy, “Seaweed Brain, you’re the most clueless person I’ve ever met.” She leveled her gaze to stare daggers in Percy’s eyes. “And, neither of your last sentences made sense for numerous reasons. Read a book, maybe?”  
She didn’t mean to be cruel. Everyone knew that Percy was dyslexic. “I would if I could,” he replied. Thankfully he was unfazed by the comment and came up with a fitting reply.  
Annabeth was about to say something else, but she was cut off by a voice coming from the field, “Can you guys PLEASE stop chatting and get back to the game?”  
“Piper calls. See ya later!” Kayla said as she turned to run back to the field, throwing and catching the softball on the way. Their orange t-shirts rippled in the wind. Will looked a bit farther and saw that they were playing New Rome High’s team. Reyna was on the mound. He immediately knew that he would never want to even make her dissatisfied. She was scary even from a distance.  
He looked back over and saw that Percy was still there, and he wasn’t as joyful as he was earlier. Will found himself incapable of avoiding eye contact and just apologized. “Hey, I’m sorry about earlier. I don’t know what came over me.”  
Percy was quiet for a moment, possibly mulling over Will’s words. Then he softened his expression and said, “Hey, no biggie. It happens sometimes. You’re a sweet guy, so I’ll let it pass this time.”  
Will didn’t really know what to make of what Percy had just said, and opened his mouth to say something, but he closed it again since he didn’t have anything.  
He looked up to see Percy inspecting the area where the ball had hit him. “Are you okay? Need to see a nurse?”  
Will grinned. Percy was still the same old Percy. “Nah, I’m good.” He really wasn’t “good,” or “fine” in proper meaning, but he knew that the nurse already left and he didn’t want to bother with the trip.  
“Well, if you say so,” Percy replied. He looked down at the broken glass and sighed, “We’re gonna need to fix that again, won’t we?”  
“Yeah…” It wasn’t the first time that Kayla had broken the glass, especially of that very room. She was one heck of a batter. Unfortunately she didn’t have the sense of responsibility to take care of it herself, and so Percy and Will normally ended up doing it, as it was school policy for students to clean up their own messes.  
They both just shrugged and Percy asked, “Wanna come watch the game with me?”  
“Sure,” Will replied and climbed out the window to head to the field. They left the room for the curtains to flutter as petals continued to float into the room and carry the pages of “Love’s Sorrow” down onto the floor with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> To anybody before people start talking about Annabeth and Percy: I am not a huge fan of either of them, and therefore have not paid much attention to them or their dynamic. Also I think that since in this case they are meeting in high school, they will have a different dynamic since they aren't *forced* (I use this term lightly) together since they're constantly trying to save the world and stay alive.  
> As always please leave kudos and comments, and please share this with friends if you liked it!  
> Twitter: Ciel_Works  
> Tumblr: cielworks


	11. Part 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The performance... maybe... kind of not... More like before the performance but there are still issues.

The practices progressed throughout the week with an hour practice after school each day. Nico always got there first, and Will could never figure out how even if he bolted out the door as soon as the bell rang. He figured that some people were just like that; appearing in places ahead of you even if you’re certain that they’re behind you.  
It was Thursday, and the last practice. As they started packing up after they finished, Will asked Nico, “Why did you choose this song?”  
Nico had to stop packing up his music to think. After a moment he said, “Well, this is a performance to show off, right? Which means that everyone else will be playing fancy songs that are big and meant to grab the audience’s attention. Thing is, if everyone does a song like that, then they all kind of blend together. Therefore, we should do a calm song, even a sad one, to get their attention because it’s different from the rest.”  
Will took that all in. “But why this song in particular?”  
Nico just looked at him. “‘Cuz why not?”  
Will knew that he wasn’t going to get anywhere. He realized that he’d let his expression relax to his own emotions, and he forced himself to put a smile back on. “Eh, whatever. See you tomorrow!”  
“See ya!” Nico said as he walked out the door, his violin slung over his shoulder.  
He really does have a style all of his own, Will thought.

The next day, Will went into homeroom and the first thing he noticed was Nico’s empty chair. Since he’d met Nico, he hadn’t arrived later than him even once. Kayla took notice of it too. “Where’s Nico?” She asked aloud, then to Will directly she queried, “Isn’t today the day of your performance?”  
Will knew that something was up if Kayla didn’t know either. “Yeah it is. Where could he be? He couldn’t possibly have gotten sick today of all days…”  
“Maybe he’s just staying home to mentally prepare for the concert?” That was very unlikely, and they both knew that. But, it was all either of them had to hold onto before entering full panic mode.  
For Will, the whole day went by in a blur. After school, him, Kayla, and Percy rode down to Rome Music Hall on their bikes. Will had his suit dangling behind him in a dry cleaning bag. When they arrived at the music hall, they decided to split up. Kayla would wait by the main entrance and try calling Nico. Percy would wait by the back just in case, and Will would head inside to search for him and get ready. They had a total of 30 minutes to find him before the show started.  
When they had five minutes left, they all met back inside the main hall.  
“I tried calling him like 50 times, and no answer. I couldn’t even place a voicemail!” Kayla shouted, exasperated.  
“I of course didn’t see him at all,” Percy added.  
Will looked down at his feet. “What am I gonna do?”  
At that moment Annabeth showed up, surprising all of them. “Hey guys, why aren’t you getting set up?”  
“Will’s partner is nowhere to be found,” Percy replied. “He’s not answering calls or anything. He’s gone completely AWOL.”  
“Well that’s not very considerate. Have you tried going to his house?”  
“There’s no time for that!” Will cried. He could feel tears welling, and his fists were shaking. How could he do this to me? kept running through his mind.  
Annabeth jogged away from the group without explanation, leaving a very furious Kayla and a confused Percy. They didn’t know why she’d suddenly just left until they saw her talking to some guy. Kayla started walking over to her and grabbed Will’s wrist to follow. Percy came along too, staying a few steps behind.  
They could start to hear her conversation as they got closer, “Come on, isn’t there anything that you can do to help us? We just need a few more minutes, and I’m sure he’ll show up,” she was saying to the man.  
Will looked up and recognized him as the director of events for Rome Music Hall. “I’m sorry, miss, but there’s nothing I can do for your friend. If his partner wasn’t in school either, then I’d imagine that he’s sick.” He was known as Mr. D. He wasn’t the most responsible or understanding of men, but he was good at arranging events, especially ones that were geared toward adults.  
Annabeth wasn’t buying his answer, and she stared at him intensely with her stormy eyes. Will didn’t actually take note of the color, but he’d heard enough from Percy raving about her. “They could dig into your soul and pull out the answer she wanted,” he’d described. Will didn’t quite get how eyes could do such a thing until he witnessed their effects on Mr. D.  
“Erm, well, there might be one thing we could do…” he stammered.  
Annabeth softened her gaze and relaxed with her arms crossed over her chest. “And that would be…?”  
Just then a small boy appeared from behind the man. He was the kid who won the last competition. He was a pprodigy, just as Will had been, except with a violin. “You could ask this young man if he would be willing to trade spots with you, but you two are the last performances.”  
Annabeth knelt down so she was eye-level with him. She put on a kid-friendly smile to help persuade him. “Hey there little guy. Our friend is running a bit late, so could we please switch performance times with you?”  
He looked at her with a “who do you think I am?” expression. “Nu-uh! That finale is mine, fair and square! You should have made sure that you friend was on-time like everyone else!”  
Will bent forward and grinned at the boy too. “That’s okay. I wouldn’t want to give up my finale either. You won that fair and square, and I sure wouldn’t want to take that away from you.”  
The boy just nodded, and his dark hair flopped over his eyes, and he retreated back from whence he came.  
“Well, there’s your answer, I guess,” Mr. D said.  
Annabeth got off of her knees and looked back at the group. “That’s about all I could do. Little kids are much harder to persuade than teens or adults. If Piper were here…”  
“Yeah, she’d have him even offering us his violin,” Kayla laughed. Will shrugged, figuring that it was an inside joke.  
“What are you gonna do without Nico here?” Percy asked.  
Will looked at the auditorium entrance, “For the time being I’ll wait for him. Maybe he’ll show up late like he did for his first competition.”  
“And if he doesn’t show up?”  
Will shrugged. “I can figure that out later. Now, you guys need to get in there before they shut the door.”  
“Right. Well, good luck!” Kayla said as she walked toward the auditorium. Percy followed suit and waved at Will. Annabeth was the last to go, but before she went in she grabbed his shoulder and Will could clearly see the dark clouds that constituted her irises. She had an expression that was firm, but Will didn’t really know what it meant. An “insert inspirational quote here” kind of thing. He went with “have faith” as his inspirational quote. She turned and entered the auditorium.  
And so he waited for his angel to appear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, guys! Dw, Nico will be back, just hang tight ^_^ The kid is Harley, btw.  
> Twitter: Ciel_Works  
> tumblr: cielworks


	12. Part 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will he go onstage? Where is Nico? What will become of their performance?

Will was too busy fretting to pay attention to what was being performed. Nico hadn’t showed up, and he didn’t know what to do. He had been pacing in the hallway for about an hour. He was earning many strange looks this way, and he all of a sudden stopped. The people staring resumed their business. Most of them had finished their own performances, so there wasn’t much business to be attended to, but they didn’t want to make eye contact.  
Will slowly made his way to the bathroom, one step at a time. His legs were shaking, and his palms were sweaty. He kept opening and closing his fists, and when he got to a sink he gripped the edge of the bowl and kept his eyes down. They were dancing around, not settling on anything to make a distinguished shape.  
WHY ISN’T HE HERE?  
He slowly raised his head to meet his own eyes. He recognized that look, but not on himself. The crazy look, the uncertain frenzy. He’d seen it on Nico.  
He’d looked into Nico’s dark eyes without depth and said, “Look at me. You’re going to be fine. You’re amazing, and your music has touched more hearts than you will ever know. It’s your job to touch those hearts again. It doesn’t matter if we screw up, if the song ends up turning into something totally different. We’ll pull through, and if all else fails, we’ll start again. Okay?”  
“Yeah,” he told himself, “Everything will be okay. I don’t need to do this for myself, I need to do this for Nico. I’m sure he isn’t here for a good reason. We’ve practiced this. I know this song better than the back of my hand. All those times mom-”  
Mom.  
This was her song. This was the song that he fell asleep to when they were happy. The song that held so much grief but seemed to melt all the fears away. It was the song he felt most secure in. “Love’s Sorrow.” Yeah, that’s right, he thought. This song was his life, and his whole purpose. He didn’t care about anything else, this song was his soul, the only thing that has kept him together no matter how much he fell apart.  
All those times he fell asleep under the piano, his mother’s soft touch, the music filling his heart. That’s what love was. It was a sorrow because you had felt such greatness before. It was what he had for Nico, a constant pain that was bliss at the same time. He had something to care for, someone to live for. Someone to play for.  
He turned on the tap and cupped his hands under the cool water that trickled through the small cracks between his fingers. He jerked the small pool up at his face, and gripped the sink once again. He looked at his eyes again, but this time they weren’t mad, they were furious.  
How DARE he abandon me? I’m going to give a performance worth the both of us. I’ll show him.  
“Nico Di Angelo and Will Solace, you’re up soon.”  
He grabbed a few brown paper towels and dried off his face. He slapped his cheeks, and marched down the hallway. The onlookers were mystified. He held his back straight, and his posture showed no sign of weakness. He was someone completely different from the pacing kid that was just earlier.  
When he arrived backstage only one thought was on his mind. “This is for you, Nico. My angel of music.”  
When the group before finished their piece, he could hear the audience applauding. Their song had been flashy, at least at the very end from what Will could hear. After the noise died down, he made his entrance.  
From the audience Kayla could see Will enter, and she gasped. She’d seen his outfit earlier, but he hadn’t looked nearly so regal. His suit blinded the onlookers with the light. It was completely white, the exact opposite of Nico’s. He’d bought it earlier that week in preparation. “To balance us out,” he’d said. It would have been Ying and Yang had Nico been there, but since will was the only one he stood out like a sore thumb.  
When he reached the center of the stage, he bowed to the audience. Most clapped out of courtesy but there were some that were talking. Most of the chatter was because the program had said that two people would be performing, but only one was onstage.  
He then waltzed over to the piano and adjusted the stool. Now it was a bit more balanced since the piano was a sleek black, and his jacket didn’t seem to shine quite as brightly as before. His blond curls were visible, as well as his ever-deepening tan.  
He spread his hands over the keys, and he began to play. The audience was calm. From all the songs earlier that were big, over-the-top, and frankly obnoxious, this dainty little piece intrigued them. They expected lightning, but for now they enjoyed the eye of the storm. His playing was a breath of fresh air.  
Kayla’s eyes began to sting, and she noticed that she was crying. Where did these come from? She asked herself as she brushed them away with the back of her hand. She looked at the rest of the audience, and she could tell that they were feeling the same. A grief that was not sad, but rather it was caring. It was beautiful, and she didn’t want the song to end.  
She looked at the title of the piece. “Love’s Sorrow.” How fitting, she thought.  
Will was playing the keys as best he could. He could hear it so well to begin with, but it started fading. He wasn’t going to let that stop him. He remembered his mother, and the song under the piano. He remembered the cherry blossoms that came in through the window during his after-school practice. He remembered watching Nico play, his body dancing to the rhythm. He remembered the dynamic changes that exaggerated each and every phrase. He remembered his fingers playing along the keys.  
So what if he couldn’t hear the piano? He could remember each and every moment that lead to this. His love could not fade as his music may. He would be able to hear every single note by the remembrance of his feelings and his ties to this piece. All the smiles his mother gave while playing this song and the anguish on Nico’s face. That’s what love’s sorrow truly was. It was remembering all the good things you took for granted but were your whole world.  
He poured everything into this performance. He didn’t care if he wasn’t even playing at the same tempo. Music was made to share emotions, so he would force every single listener to feel what he felt.  
Percy was next to Kayla and Annabeth. He was listening to Will playing, and it was nothing he’d ever heard from him before. He could feel the torment of the song, the blissful hatred that rang through clearly. He leaned back and closed his eyes, letting himself be swallowed by the cascade of fear.  
He felt himself being brought back to reality, however, when he felt a delicate hand resting on top of his own. It was the hand closest to Annabeth. He smiled gently and turned his palm upward, and their fingers linked. They gripped each other like they knew all that was being told by the piano from personal experience together. It was like making it through Hell with constantly knowing that they may never find their way out, but pushing forward no matter what because they had each other, and that was enough.  
The song ended, and the whole crowd was quiet. It wasn’t silent, for tears, even if they never appeared, always fell with a softness everyone could hear. And love was never able to be hidden. The whole audience felt the same, which had not happened before. There had always been one person ignorant to the piece, but this piece, and this boy playing it had been the perfect pair to bring everyone together with a kindness.  
Will sat there for a while. He put his forehead to the pearly keys and whispered “thank you.” Thank you to his mother for introducing to something beyond rhythms and noise from a young age, and thank you to Nico who had brought him back from the grave. This was where he belonged; not in a classroom studying books all day, not in a hospital observing the physicality of life, but rather on a stage giving life purpose and meaning.  
He stood from the Steinway and walked to the center of the stage. He bowed. The audience clapped collectively like they were all saying “thank you.”  
He turned and walked offstage as brightly as he had before. “As bright as the sun.” That’s what Kayla remembered. His radiance was familiar, and she was finally able to place it.  
Once he reached the wing, he noticed Harley standing there, the boy who won the last violin competition. He didn’t look down at him, but he could feel a gaze of admiration upon him. He marched right out from the wing and got changed back into his school uniform.  
As he tightened the tie, he looked at himself in the mirror. “This looks better on Nico,” he said aloud, so softly no one else could hear. The orange was a nice accent, and that was the only thing that felt fitting for him. The black suit didn’t feel right. He wasn’t the one walking in darkness; that was Nico’s job. But Nico could walk through the dark with his hands behind his back and his eyes open. He’d adjusted, and he was able to bring the darkness with him wherever he went. His darkness was kind and loving.  
Will didn’t know what to do with himself since he didn’t want the crowd on top of him or to talk to his friends, so he went home instead. He managed to leave the building before the last kid finished and acknowledgements were made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I love listening to all kinds of classical music while writing this! You should listen too on youtube, just search for "Love's Sorrow" and listen to both the piano solo and the piano/violin duet.  
> Tumblr: cielworks  
> Twitter: Ciel_Works


	13. Part 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to bring on the angst! PLEASE read the Author's note at the beginning before proceeding with this chapter! There may be some triggering topics that are addressed in the note.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains reference to child abuse, self-degradation, as well as death and illness. I suggest that my readers who have had traumatic events proceed with caution, if at all. Please remember that you are loved and you are more than you may think despite what others or your mind may tell you.

It was certain to be a bad day when Will was woken up by a call from Kayla. He heard Beethoven’s Fifth. The famous deaf composer was his recurring idol when he was a kid. It was quite the sound to awaken to; the menacing strings going BUM BUM BUM BUM right next to your head when you were still in a quiet dream.  
From the shock of the noise, he jerked upright. “OW!” he exclaimed as loudly as his morning voice would let him. “What the-”  
He lowered himself down a bit, and observed that he was underneath his piano, and his phone was ringing like crazy. He picked it up, but the call ended right as he was about to answer. He heard the door downstairs being pounded on followed by the doorbell being pressed rapid-fire. He crawled out from under the instrument, avoiding the various pieces of music before he slipped on them.  
He ran down the stairs, but the person trying to get his attention was already inside. Her hair was a knotted mess on top of her head, and she looked half-ready to kill him but also halfway to breaking down in tears. She’d clearly also just gotten woken up and put herself together as minimally as possible. “Jeez, Kayla, you tryin’ to give me a heart attack? It’s only what-”  
“Ten A.M. I’ve been calling you for an hour. Get your ass together and let’s go.” There was no disobeying her, and he didn’t want to. There had to have been something wrong if she wasn’t sleeping until noon like she normally did on a Saturday.  
He went upstairs to put on some clean clothes. When he went back downstairs he was handed a piece of toast with jelly on it and a banana. “What’s wrong?” He asked as he took an oversized bite of the toast.  
“It’s Nico,” which was all she had to say. Will could piece two and two together to figure out that he was in the hospital again. He was thrown a coat before they exited his house. “I got a call this morning from his dad. Apparently he’s in worse condition than he would let us in on.”  
Will was fumbling with the keys to lock the door before they completely left. It was a silent walk to the bus station. It was a bit of a blur of a ride for Will, especially since he was still trying to remember what had happened that led to him sleeping under the piano.  
While he was eating his banana on the bus, he was collecting his memories of what happened after the concert. He remembered walking home rather than riding his bike. He sat at the piano and played his transcribed song. He didn’t care what it was actually called, to him it was “Nico Di Angelo.” He’d played until his fingers were sore. He didn’t remember hearing anything, but he heard Michael in his head.  
“He abandoned you,” the cat was saying. “You are nothing to him. A pest. An obstacle in his way. You’re worthless. That’s why he didn’t show up. He let you rot, and you’re not even going to stand up for yourself. You can’t even hear yourself. You don’t live for anything. You live for him, but to him you’re nothing. You’re a nobody. You’ll never be anybody. Anybody can see that you’re a loser. You can’t even play a song-”  
“IN TEMPO! How DARE you question the greats? You think that Mozart grew by not reading the score right in front of him? You’re a failure!” It was his mother. “Now do it again, properly this time! You think that you will ever be able to stand onstage with posture like that? I’m embarrassed to have you as my pupil, nay, my son! You’re a failure! Even your father can’t stand being home because of you!”  
She beat him. She always carried around a cane even though she was in a wheelchair. He knew that there was something wrong with her head, but he’d thought that playing would fix it. So he’d play until his fingers were bruised, otherwise he’d be bruised worse in other places. He was still bruised. Every wrong note, every time he broke tempo, every accent he missed. The dark spots on his skin grew to higher numbers than the freckles on his face.  
He suddenly had hurt last night. His memories flooded his senses and he felt like a little kid, abandoned and broken by those he loved most. He crawled under the piano and cried. He tried remembering “Love’s Sorrow” but the voices were too strong. He didn’t eat and he exhausted himself from tears so much that he was dead asleep before he knew it.  
Remembering that night may not have been the best idea for the bus. His numbness started to fade and he could feel his eyes stinging, and knew that they must be puffy. He gripped his satchel closer, the banana peel barely being held by his hand that was paling.  
He hoped that Nico wasn’t too sick. He was hoping that maybe it was just some illness that would pass with time. He was lucky that Kayla had some more wits about her than him, because otherwise he would have missed the stop.  
He hadn’t been to a hospital for two years. Two years, and he was still haunted by the look of a hospital. He’d wanted and been training to be a doctor, but he hadn’t noticed the pain of a hospital until he went there again. It was the same hospital that his mother died in. He was too late to see her before she passed, but he got to see the room.  
The room. It was the same. Two years, and the hospital rooms hadn’t changed. His weary eyes looked around. He didn’t remember the elevator ride or checking in, but Nico was right in front of him. It was the same as two years ago. Though he didn’t see his mom die, he’d seen her dying. Dying wasn’t gracious or beautiful as most people believed. It was muted, dull, and uncomfortable. All around were machines; some telling vitals and others containing information on the patient. There were tubes. The IV that everyone knew, the oxygen mask prepped for just-in-case, and the tubes containing wires that led to various pieces of equipment.  
These were the instruments that you didn’t play. These were the instruments that played you.  
Nico was staring forward on his bed at a TV screen that had a news channel talking about Rachel Elizabeth Dare, the famous fortune-telling artist who was worth more than “Starry Night” because of her art, talent, and family. Rumor was that she threw a hairbrush at an attempting kidnapper once, which ended up saving her whole family. There were all sorts of prodigies out there in the world.  
He shifted his gaze back to Nico, who was looking at him with dead eyes past Kayla who was crouching at his bedside to talk to him. He was fading into the shadows of the room. It was painful to look at him, but he persisted anyways. He would give anything for him to be playing again.  
“What happened?” Kayla asked Nico for what must have been the tenth time, but her voice was remaining calm.  
Nico shifted his focus on Kayla. “Oh, nothing much,” he said. “Just fell and injured my head. It wasn’t even that bad. Did lose a bag of canelés, though.”   
Then Will suddenly snapped. His eyebrows creased and he stomped toward Nico’s bed. He stood over Kayla and declared, “You’re one messed up son of a bitch, you know that?” He stared right at Nico, but the fading kid didn’t show even the slightest bit of surprise, or any emotion at all. “Tsk,” Will spat then turned away to the closest area to a corner as was available in the small room.  
“What is wrong with you today Will?” Kayla yelled as she stormed over to her friend. “The guy you’ve been playing with for over a week is in a hospital bed, and all you do is cuss at him after being silent? What gives?”  
“He shouldn’t even be in a hospital bed!” he yelled back. “A head injury from falling shouldn’t land you in a hospital overnight! Look at him! He’s beyond sick, and his only regret is that he lost a few sweets? He forced me to perform alone at the biggest musical event of the season!”  
Nico was now looking at the bed sheets covering his legs. For the first time Will could see actual pain on his face, even though it was slight. His thin hands were gripping the fabric, and his veins were popping out from his grayish skin. “I didn’t choose to leave you alone,” he said. His voice was scratchy, like it was unused even though he’d just talked earlier. “I didn’t choose to trip and fall. I didn’t choose to be unconscious until last night. I didn’t choose to be a fucking cripple who can’t live a life outside of a hospital! You think that my only regret is losing a couple chocolates? Ha! Goes to show how much you know about me!”  
It was probably the worst time for Percy to enter, but he had a bouquet of flowers and he’d likely already heard the whole interaction. “Hey both of you, calm down! We’re in a hospital, remember?”  
“How could I forget?” Will scoffed before he darted out the door. Kayla was about to follow, but Percy held her back.  
“Let him run. I’m sure he’s got more than his fair share of emotions to put in place,” he said.  
And so the two of them went to try to comfort Nico, and the bundle of sunflowers was placed on the hospital nightstand next to Nico’s bed.  
After the two left, Nico would look at the sunflowers for hours. They were the only bit of color in the room, which reminded him of Will’s hair. An imprinting yellow that struck through whatever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this chapter of anguish. Trust me, I was crying as I was writing it, but it wouldn't be a ylia au without it. I love you all and you are all so special. *Hugs!*  
> Tumblr: cielworks  
> Twitter: Ciel_Works


	14. Part 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of a break in the plot, but it still fits in. Poor Will.

At home, Will went through all his medical books searching for what Nico could possibly be sick with. He figured that he’d had it for a while before because his skin tone was naturally abnormally pale and grayish and he was so thin. Minor injuries becoming worse than they should, and fainting after even the smallest of exercises.  
He couldn’t find anything in particular since it was all so generic. He prayed to the gods that it wasn’t something lethal. He couldn’t bare never hearing Nico’s violin again, and there was nobody who could wield such a masterpiece of woodwork as him.  
As he walked toward his bedroom having given up on the day, the breeze from his passing opened a side room of the hallway. It was the piano room. His eyes glossed over, and he closed the door.  
His room was practically made of stacks of books, mostly on medicine. There were also a few textbooks and only a couple free-reading fiction novels. It wasn’t tidy as all. Everywhere else in the house was neat, but he couldn’t remember the last time he made his bed or even washed his sheets. His desk had a pile of clothes on it, and all his other furniture was just used as book storage.  
It actually bothered him that he couldn’t keep his room neat, but he didn’t have the motivation to do anything about it. The only time he was ever in there was to sleep (most of the time) and get dressed. At this time he would be in there to sleep.  
He looked out his window and saw stars. He wondered how they got there. He’d heard one story that the stars were all the souls of the dead. It was a nice thought, that they were shining in the sky, visible to everyone. I wonder what kind of star Nico would be, he thought.  
He realized what he’d just thought and threw the pillow off of the bed. No. Nico will not be a star, not anytime soon. He threw himself onto the bed, and grabbed the other pillow into his arms. He bent his neck and let out a roar straight from his core. He kept yelling, and yelling, and yelling. His throat felt like hell and his eyes were stinging sharp as a cactus.  
Never before had he felt the terror that he had upon seeing Nico in a hospital bed. When his mother was there, he still hadn’t learned what death really was. He didn’t expect the loneliness. With Nico, he knew exactly what was going to happen. It was the fate he wanted to reject with all his being. He wanted to invade the Fates’ lair and steal Nico’s string and scream “Nobody is EVER taking him away from me!”  
He couldn’t understand how one could want to know their fate. He would live his whole life in fear of that day, and he knew that he would waste his life no matter what way he lived it because he would have wanted to do more, but he couldn’t. He would drive himself mad trying to live as effectively as he could and not cherishing what he had for fear of what will be.  
No one had prepared him for the emotions that came with growing up. Or maybe they had? Maybe his mother was the one to prepare him for the tragedy of his life and get him to learn to smile and bear the pain. That was all he’d been good for the last two years. He hadn’t told anyone about his nightmares of Michael every night. Why would they need to know?  
Yet he had to know what was up with Nico. He had to make his life right for his own sanity. He was more than just a violinist. When he was being sarcastic and annoying, that was what made him so intriguing. His playing reflected it. It would appear to be one way, but in the next moment everything would be changed.  
He didn’t remember falling asleep.

Thankfully Will always set his alarms far in advance. “DUN DUN DUN DUN!”  
“Ugh,” he groaned as he sat up. He was on the floor. His legs were tangled in his navy sheets, and his pillow was folded over itself under his head. His eyes still stung, so he went to the bathroom.  
His reflection was nothing to smile at. The dark circles were running deep, his hair could easily be mistaken for a Swiffer duster, and he had imprints of his blankets all over his face. He splashed some cold water and washed with some soap and acne lotion. He wiped off with a white towel. He’d learned quickly that it was the only way to not get the effects of the bleaching agents in his products visibly everywhere.  
He ran a brush through his hair and gave up. It was always something that would not be tamed no matter how hard he tried.  
In his room he scanned and found a clean uniform. After buttoning that up, he went downstairs to have a breakfast consisting of Cheerios and a banana with juice. He brushed his teeth back upstairs then went outside to head to school.  
He contemplated waiting for Kayla, but decided against it. He figured that she wouldn’t have anything to say that he wanted to deal with quite yet. He tuned into his collection of music on his phone. He didn’t feel like waking up fully that Monday so he skipped all of the upbeat songs. It was a day to be ruined.  
The walk seemed to go by quickly. He stared at his shoes the whole time except for when he had to check for cars. He was grateful that there wasn’t any regulation on shoes except for closed-toe, but it let him wear his orange converse. He actually liked the color, he didn’t just wear it to wear them because they matched the tie.  
It wasn’t surprising not to see Nico in class. Percy was there, but he didn’t say anything. Kayla showed up a few moments later, silent as well. The whole class was silent, but what Will didn’t know was that they three, or four with Nico, were the ones keeping the class energetic and waking them up in the morning.  
The teacher took immediate notice, but continued with course plans. Though the students probably wouldn’t learn anything because of the funk, at least they wouldn’t be causing any trouble, which had escalated aas of late.  
It would be a stereotypical Monday morning of tiredness and awkwardness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. This chapter was kind of blah, but I figured a slowing of pace was in order and at this point there wasn't exactly much cheerful to write about.  
> Twitter: Ciel_Works  
> Tumblr: cielworks


	15. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An interlude because I may or may not still have no idea what should happen next in the main story

~~An Interlude~~

The sun was burning bright and the flora was in full bloom. Two kids were running around the lawn as their parents watched on. One had short, dark hair and earth-toned eyes. The other was a brunette with long hair and and was a bit taller than the other.  
They were playing tag, and the little brother chased his sister into a bush. She was trapped, and the boy playfully skipped the rest of the way up to her. He leaned over and booped her nose. Her eyes took on a glimmer, and she lifted him up off his feet with a huge smile.  
She ran around holding him, and he had his arms out like an airplane. She was making the “nyoom!” sound effect while he giggled. She started to lose her grip and began wobbling him uncontrollably.  
Her father ran to the rescue shouting “Aircraft one is losing turbulence! He must get to a higher altitude” with a voice like he was talking into a radio. He grasped the laughing boy from her arms and lifted him up over his head. The kid squealed, and the whole family started laughing.

A few years later a joyous Christmas came. They were all in their pajamas, and the little boy was anxiously awaiting the okay to tear into his presents. He watched as his parents made coffee for themselves and was about to jump through the ceiling from anticipation.  
The tree was lit with ornaments and garlands, and the presents radiated with the light of the fireplace. When his parents finally sat down, they nodded and he went at the packages. He moved aside the ones that didn’t have his name on it, and tore open the ones that did. He got a collection of video games, clothing, and mythomagic cards.  
His sister got lots of clothes, books, and a bow and arrows. He was certain that she’d gotten the best present that year, but he spotted another red and green package behind the branches. He pulled it out and peeled back the paper. Inside was a coat that had a fur lining and had patches. An aviator jacket!  
The children rushed to their parents and thanked them. The boy, now eight years old, put on the jacket. It was enormous on him, but his dad said that he’d grow into it. He didn’t want to wait, so he wore it every day. It started to fit him better, but it never got to fitting him right.

He was ten years old when he first met Percy. It wasn’t very long, but he saw him when he dropped his sister off at her first archery competition. He wanted to stay, but his mom, well, his stepmom forced him to go to a school orientation. They had just moved there and they wanted him to get a look at the school before he started.  
The school was called Halfblood Hill. It was a pretty strange name, but apparently it was originally for teaching children of “mixed” parents back when it wasn’t quite as common. It was racist, yes, but now it just seemed like a normal school in the Big City.  
It was going well. It was essentially an average day. But then his world flipped upside down.  
There was a call around eight at night, a bit after his sister was supposed to get home. He saw his mother pick up the phone and as worriedly, “Hello?” That’s when he knew that something was wrong. She started tearing up and shaking her head in every direction, like she couldn’t decide what emotions to show even though the person couldn’t see her.  
When she clicked on the keypad for the call to end, she threw the phone on the table and collapsed into a chair. His father rushed over to her and rubbed her arms. “What’s wrong, honey?” he was asking while shushing her in a caring manner. She was rocking back and forth and completely crying.  
“It’s Bianca,” she gasped between sobs. “There was an accident and…” She trailed off and heaved a great sob. The kid didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to believe it but then she said, “The car flipped. She didn’t make it.”  
He didn’t really know what happened next. He was outside, running and running. He found himself back in the city. The lights were a blur of color. He turned around and ran back through the woods. He looked at his house. He decided that it was too big. He went inside and opened the fridge for a drink of water. He poured himself a glass, but it shattered at his feet. His eyes rolled back and he collapsed on the floor.

Four years passed. His life was a mixture of hospital visits and bits of school. He had a tutor, so he never got behind. He was actually ahead of most of his classmates, and eventually they placed him a year up. He’d transferred schools. He didn’t want to wander the halls of a school where the only time he went was the day his sister died and his life went to hell.  
Instead he went to New Rome Academy. It was also nearby. He’d lost his jacket while running in the woods that evening. His friends at the school were not many, though they all welcomed him. His best friend was Reyna who happened to be the head of the softball team. He also found a girl who was like his sister. Their dads were identical, though unrelated. Her name was Hazel, very fitting, and she rode horseback.  
He wasn’t a common sight, and there were often times that he never even went for a whole semester. He transferred back to Halfblood Hill after he found that the music program was better. He also noticed that Will Solace went there. And Percy, though he didn’t remember him.  
He made an effort to go to that school more often. A year later he got to be in the same class as Will and he enjoyed being towards the back of the class. He didn’t like attention, and he could have sunshine in front of him whenever he looked up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Sorry that it's been straying from the general plot, but hopefully you could picture some cute Nico before sad Nico took over.  
> Always feel free to ask questions, send messages, etc!  
> tumblr: cielworks  
> Twitter: Ciel_Works


	16. Part 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> School is hard, especially when your crush is in the hospital.

The air was thick and the clouds were heavy. It was likely going to rain. Spring was ending and summer fever was starting. Exams were coming up and Will wasn’t studying. Everyone was concerned about him. He usually spent all his time in the library studying and tutoring about a month out from exams. It was mid-May. Tests started early June.  
The damp air was like an extra weight on his shoulders. He had a leftover pizza slice for lunch. The roof was lonesome and even his thoughts couldn’t keep him company. It was all silence.  
When the bell rang he put his few things away and walked back to the classroom. As soon as he left it began to rain.  
He was paying attention in class, but nothing was sticking in his brain. He had notebooks full of graphite but it didn’t help him. His mind was elsewhere ever since his last visit to the hospital to see Nico. He didn’t want to be a doctor anymore so his grades weren’t as necessary. It was obvious to tell that he was slipping.  
It had been two weeks since that day. He was invited to a piano competition that was set for late June. He’d been practicing the piano more than anything, but once again he found himself unable to hear it. It was impossible for him to tell if he was playing it correctly, so he couldn’t pick a song for the competition. He practiced the basics very often to try playing only visually and not audibly, but he knew that he was no Beethoven.  
His teacher sat him down one time and asked him what was wrong. “I just think that everything’s catching up to me,” he’d said. He thought that was the truth, or at least wanted himself to believe that it was the truth. He’d been thinking about his mother, and a recent phone call from his dad made him doubt himself more that usual.  
A call was rare. Maybe once a month his dad would check on him, if that. It was to the point where Will only called him “Dad” was because he was his technical father and he was receiving an allowance from him as well as living under a roof that was technically his father’s. The next day he received a letter in the mail, but it only had a postcard and some stickers in it.  
Thursday came strolling by as seamlessly as the rest of the week had come. His stickers were in his backpack. He saw them every time he reached for a pen, pencil, or other random tool. Right in his front pocket. Right in the front of his mind.  
After school Kayla asked Will if he wanted to go see Nico at the hospital with her and Percy. Every Tuesday and Thursday was the same question, and every time he said “no.” But those stickers were in the front of his brain, in the front of his backpack, on the front of Nico’s gorgeous violin case.  
“Actually, yeah. Sure. I’d like to go.”  
Kayla smiled. She’d been waiting for him to say that. She slipped her hand in his and they made their way out the door where Percy was waiting.  
They rode the bus, since walking would have been too far. They were quiet just like last time. Will clutched his backpack and had the handle tucked under his chin. His shoes were getting dirty.  
They got off in front of the hospital. It was still dreary looking at it. He wondered how dreary Nico was inside of it.  
They had to check in at the counter before they could go see him. Not all hospitals did that, but this one did. Percy wrote his name first, Kayla second. When Will went to write his name he looked at the others’ handwriting. “Percy Jackson” was written very practiced but not so neat. Kayla’s was bubbly and slightly slanted as though she were rushing. Then Will looked at his own handwriting. The name “Will Solace” was barely readable with all sorts of weird ways that letters were written. He’d been told that he even had the “doctor’s script” down. He felt bad for the people who had to type it up later.  
The elevator didn’t have any music. Normally he would dance to it and embarrass anybody else in the shaft. He didn’t feel like doing that today anyways. The walls were padded blue and it felt extremely claustrophobic. Will stood in the corner away from the button panel. Percy had his bag slung over his shoulder. A decent bag, good for activities. His water bottle stayed in even though it was tilted almost completely on its side.  
The hallway was very white. There were nurses on the side talking to each other with their gowns and purple gloves on. There was a family in one room who seemed to have given up on whomever was the patient. It was a long-term care area, so most of the people had nearly terminal illnesses and had no life because they were in the same room all day.  
It hurt to think that Nico was one of those people, but he had his own room. He couldn’t even talk to someone on another side of the curtain because his parents were rich enough to place him in a more luxurious bed. It was amazing how much money they raked in with a funeral home and a flower shop. Some thought that they were feeding off of people’s tragedies, but they were both inherited and neither of them knew any other trade. He had no idea what Nico’s birth mother did, but he’d heard something somewhere about a museum.  
You could say that they all dealt in death. It was funny how relationships worked out like that. Unfortunately the nature of the trade wasn’t something that anybody looked forward to. The inevitable end nobody wants to witness. Will realized that Nico had been living like that his whole life. He grew up around dead people, and his own family had to do the prepping for their own funerals.  
He decided that some things weren’t meant to be thought about and brought himself back to the world of the - barely - living. They were standing outside a door that said “Di Angelo.” “Of angel.” Yeah. Definitely a family of death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I may not be posting as regularly now because I'm getting busy with work and rehearsals and I really want to dedicate thought and effort into this. I hope you don't mind the shorter chapter, but I do want to keep updating as regularly as I can. Yes, this is all relevant stuff because "an author makes everything intentional" ~every English teacher ever (which isn't true) but I do try to live up to those standards because I'm a stupid perfectionist.  
> Thanks for reading!  
> Tumblr: cielworks  
> Twitter: Ciel_Works


	17. Part 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More of Nico's past and memories and hospital blues.

They say that angels are beautiful and of the blessed souls that work for God thanks to their faith and virtue in life. Will thought that there were other angels too. An angel, in his mind, was a mythic humanoid creature that had wings and was a soul that may or may not have lived before. To him, some people were angels. And even some angels were not always the same.  
The way he saw Nico was of an angel that lived. He was an angel of music like Christine’s Phantom of the Opera. Except Nico wasn’t nearly as hideous or ominous, but he was the one to lift Will up. Also he’s simply exceptional at playing and it’s easy to tell that he’s mostly self-taught with his free style.  
There were many angels in the hospital. Paper cut-outs, mostly. The place was grossly Christianized, but he supposed that’s what happens in New York especially since the better hospitals were mostly church-funded. It was good for Nico.  
One time during practice the week before the performance, they both sat down to relax. They had been getting frustrated trying to sync up. That’s when Will noticed a small delicate chain under Nico’s black t-shirt. He’d asked him about it, and his feeble fingers pulled out a small cross attached to it.  
His eyes held a bit of melancholy, but his tone was disinterested in it. “It was a gift from my sister. We originally lived in Italy with my birth mother. My father was out of the picture at that time except for a few spring and summer visits. I don’t remember much from then. Something happened with my mother and, well, she isn’t here anymore. My father had us stay with him. Apparently he only visited sometimes because he was actually married to another woman in the States, so Bianca and I moved over. I was maybe five or so. Anyways, my mother and sister were Roman Catholic since we lived kinda near the Vatican. I remember the cathedrals because they were either so colorful or so creepy. I never really believed in God, there was just something that didn’t feel right about it, but those scraps of memories I have remind me of when I was happy.”  
Will had looked at him in disbelieve, partially because of the story and partially because he thought that was the most that Nico had spoken since they met. “Are you not happy anymore? With your stepmom and New York?”  
Tucking the delicate cross back under his collar, he looked up at Will. “Not sure,” he shrugged. “It seems to be getting better as of late. I never disliked Persephone, but I felt out of place because I was the outcome of my dad cheating, and nobody really seemed to care. And ever since Bianca…”  
Since they were sitting on the floor with their backs against the wall, their palms were flat on the ground beside them. Will moved his right over to rest his finger’s on Nico’s. “It’s okay.” He beamed and there were bits of tears in the corners of his eyes. “Wanna get back to practicing?” He stood up and reached out the hand that had touched Nico’s just a moment ago.  
Slightly embarrassed but also grateful, Nico accepted the hand and stood up. They both assumed their positions for playing from the beginning of the piece. Miraculously they played it perfectly together.  
Now, Nico wasn’t allowed to wear the necklace. Patients couldn’t wear jewelry just in case anything should go wrong. Instead it was on a nightstand next to him, right next to his cell phone. The TV was tuned to a dog show. Nico had a large dog named Cerberus, so that was likely the most interesting thing on for him.  
It was clearly just white noise. He wasn’t paying attention at all. The light was off and the curtain was closed. The lights of the screen reflected off his skin and his dead eyes.  
“Hey dude, have some light,” Percy said before turning on the switch.  
Nico turned his head over to face them, and his sunken, darkened eyes landed on Will’s. He felt guilt, but he didn’t know why. He wanted to help him, but he didn’t know how.  
He thought of the stickers in the front of his backpack that had made their way to the back of his mind. However, he didn’t make any moves. He simply stood in the doorway looking into Nico’s eyes.  
His wings were fading.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a disclaimer: I am not religious so sorry if I don't know what I'm talking about, also I'm changing backstories... again... but I'm focusing more on character than canon plots! I promise I'll get back to more of the good stuff... eventually... ... ...yeah...  
> If you wanna bug me to update more:  
> tumblr: cielworks  
> Twitter: Ciel_Works


	18. Part 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting back on track... maybe... I can't even explain what's going on.

Two weeks it had been. Nico was still in the hospital, and he didn’t look any better than when he had entered. Will didn’t know what was going on, but he knew that it was far more complex than anything he could teach himself. He was afraid to lose Nico, as he had lost his mother. Lost causes. He wanted to save them, but he could never figure out how.  
Every beep of a monitor or cough from another room made his hair stand on end. Two weeks, and all he could do was stare.  
No, he thought. I can do better. I need to be better.  
He forced a smile on his face, and he approached the hospital bed. “Hey, Nico.”  
He looked up at Will as broken as a tea kettle. He was surviving on a thread, just enough to keep breathing. He felt trapped in a jar and his only way of staying alive was through his regular doses. Will’s eyes held grief, yet he was smiling.  
He frowned. How could anyone be pleasant in this situation? Will had abandoned Nico for weeks in a hospital after yelling at him for being sick. What the hell could he have to offer?  
“Why are you here?” He spat.  
Will ignored Nico’s temper and started rummaging through his backpack. Always so much color with this kid; he was like a walking rainbow even with the black uniform. He produced some stickers and set them on Nico’s lap after he made no move to grab them himself.  
One of them had the colosseum on it, and the other was of the parthenon. He remembered his violin case where he had stickers from all his family’s vacations. He had always wanted to go to Greece and Rome, but he was too afraid to ask. It was a sore spot for his dad since he grew up there before he was forced to move to New York. It was a bittersweet moment.  
The images were cheesey things that you could get at any gift shop even in the city, but he felt the need to ask, “Where did you get these?”  
“Hm?” Will went to his automatic response while he processed the question and came up with an answer: “My father got them for me from his tour in Europe. I’m not much of a collector, but it seems that you’ve gathered a lot for your violin, so I figured why not add to the collection?”  
Nico thought about the stickers. They were a present, probably to apologize or because Will pitied him. He said, “I won’t take them.” He’d gotten all of his from his own travels. He didn’t want ones that he wasn’t connected to.  
“Why not?” Will made a pouty face. Gods, he was annoying.  
“I don’t want their intrusion on my memories or as just a hand-me-down because you don’t want them.”  
“Geeze, you guys get back together and you’re bickering already,” Kayla butted in. “You both could learn some manners.”  
Percy started laughing like he normally did when the mood was lightened. Nico blushed since he was the only one not in a cheerful mood. It was awkward. Suddenly he had three school pals there with him when he was used to only having his parents.  
Will looked around and noticed something very odd about the room, “What have you even been doing these weeks? There’s nothing here.”  
“Now that you mention it, that is quite odd,” added Kayla.  
Nico hadn’t thought of it before. He usually just tuned into what was happening in the hospital. “I just listen, I guess.”  
“That’s pretty creepy,” Percy was looking around and now listening to what Nico might be hearing. There were some conversations among nurses and running around, but it was usually based on the terminally ill facing the end.  
Nico just shrugged at Percy’s comment. He was used to the dead, so why would the dying be any different?  
“You really need some more hobbies. Just some stuff to do in the hospital since you can’t do your usual stuff,” Will suggested.  
“I do have hobbies other than music, thank you very much,” he retorted. “I just can’t do them in a hospital when I’m alone all day.”  
“Uh-huh. And pray tell, what are these hobbies?” Will was teasing Nico because nothing of current interest other than music was brought up during their conversations.  
Crap, what do I like? It’s not like I play Mythomagic anymore… Nico tried to find any hobbies that he might possibly enjoy. When he couldn’t think of any immediately he resorted to throwing the offense on Will, “Why are you so into my business anyways?”  
Percy and Kayla were in the back stifling laughter. They both knew what was going on, but they were caught off guard when Will said, “Maybe I just want to help out a friend. Is it so hard to accept some help from me that you try to hide yourself and act much tougher than you are? You’re clearly in no shape to alone and bored. It’s like you’ve already accepted fate that doesn’t even exist! You’re no martyr by fighting whatever’s going on alone and in silence.”  
Nico balled up his fists and shut his eyes, “Like hell you’d know my fate! I’m gonna die before I’m even an adult and I’ve only known death my whole life. Why should I go around pretending I’m someone normal and getting involved with someone who has a future? I’ll only ever bring down anyone who gets near me!”  
He was crying and furious and he was certain that they were all going to leave him, but he felt a warmth across his chest that spread to his face. The tears didn’t stop, but his eyes flew open and he turned to see a mess of blond at his cheek. Will was hugging him tightly and his bag was spilled onto the floor. “Don’t you dare to ever think that again.”  
He slowly pulled away, and his expression was like cement. Kayla was carefully making her way towards the foot of the bed. Percy walked up and grabbed Nico’s shoulder, “Did you think that we wouldn’t be your friends just because you’re sick? You’re making us sound like jerks here.”  
As tears streamed down his face, Nico gave a half smile. He looked around at the three. He was so relieved to have actual friends. He’d been trying so hard to push them away because he was so scared of himself and the ripple he would make in their lives. He’d never once thought that they would want that ripple there. He gazed at Will who had a smirk pulling at his lips. His eyes reminded him of the sky, which he hadn’t seen in weeks. It was like a breath of fresh air.  
Then he returned his focus to the stickers that were still on his lap. He picked up the one of the parthenon and looked at the ancient architecture. He still wanted to travel, but he knew that it wouldn’t be likely for him to even leave his hospital room again. He pinched the other and set them both on the bedstand.  
“Thanks,” he said.  
As if nothing had happened they struck up a conversation about school and homework. The attitude was a lot lighter, and they were talking for so long that they needed chairs to relax their legs. There were only two so Kayla sat on the bed by Nico’s legs and started a story.  
“...and then he fell backwards and my nail polish spilled all over his head like he was bleeding. My dad flipped when he saw him smeared with ‘blood’ and his sax swinging from the fan. Of course I could barely tell him what was going on since I could only talk in rhymes so it was something like ‘He’s dangling his sax because there are no hacks. At least it’s not an axe ‘cuz then there would be cracks. There is no blood, it’s only crud, and his legs went lax.’” She spoke with a rhythm on the last part and the silence that was held to hear the crazy event broke into laughter that echoed down the hallways.  
After a good while of their cackling, a nurse popped in and announced that visiting hours were over and only one person or relatives were allowed in the room. Percy and Kayla got up to leave, and Will started to follow while brushing the water from his eyes. “I can’t believe it’s nine already, my parents are probably going nuts,” Percy complained as he walked out the door.  
“Yeah, mine are probably gonna go ballistic. Apparently I missed five phone calls,” Kayla added. Will didn’t have anybody at home to worry about him, so he was just thinking about easy things for dinner. Before he left the room, Kayla stopped him and said, “I know you’ve got other things to talk about with him, so go ahead. I’ll see you at school.”  
She waved goodbye before he could give a response, leaving him trapped in an awkward situation. After standing in the doorway a few moments Nico called, “So are you going or are you just gonna be another shadow?”  
He turned around and saw that Nico was still in a position to talk more. He walked over to his chair and set his bag down on Percy’s before striking up another conversation.  
“Have you been playing?” The cold voice was very different from a second ago. It seemed distant - hollow, even.  
“Yeah,” he replied, more air than sound. He fiddled with his fingers like he always did when he was thinking about playing.  
Nico didn’t even look at Will when he said, “good.”  
The atmosphere wasn’t something Will knew how to deal with, so he continued the topic, “I’m training for a piano competition. It’s not for a few months, but I figured it’s better to start practicing now than later.”  
“Yeah, smart. What are you playing?”  
“I- I’m not sure yet. I actually can’t hear the piano again,” Will confessed. Nico laughed a little, but not in the joking way.  
A few tears streaked his darkened cheeks as he said, “Looks like we’ve got two deaf musicians here now.”  
Neither boy had anything to say, and so they sat and listened to world without music.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *nervous laughter* H-hey guys... I'm back... ...and dying...  
> I do apologize sincerely about not updating recently. After this upcoming week we should be back on track with at least one chapter every other day for a bit before school starts back up again *cries*  
> Well I hope you enjoyed it! Kayla's brother was the one in the incident (Austin who is half-brother by their father as both mothers are out of the picture for some reason or another)  
> If you want more content/stuff from me then follow me on  
> tumblr: cielworks  
> twitter: Ciel_Works  
> As there is stuff there that isn't here.


	19. Part 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Standardized tests. Seriously? Seriously.

What even… is this?  
Will was staring at a packet about twenty pages deep, and there was a question about the passage. His options were: a) The author applied simile to emphasise her doubt, b) The author appeals to logos to persuade her audience, c) The father represents her motivation, d) Her failure to win the competition represents the inevitable truth that hard work amounts to nothing, and option e) This was literally just about a girl riding a horse??? was written in pencil underneath.  
After staring at the letters until they started to float above the page he glanced over at his scantron and darkened “c” as the best of these answers that did not correlate to the question at all. As he scanned over the next question he started to wonder how many tests these people have created that they’ve failed to create a coherent question in an attempt to avoid any repeats from years past.  
He turned the page and ended up looking at the tan surface of his desk rather than another page. He checked that all the answer bubbles were filled in and filled in the ones that weren’t completely dark. There was still an hour until the testing time finished, so he grabbed the piece of scrap paper they always hand out but nobody uses.  
Mindless doodling was the best way to pass time after these tests as he’d learned from his previous years. With luck he wouldn’t have any more state-mandated tests the next year. He was planning on taking as many music courses as he could along with whatever was required.  
As many music courses of course included a vocal class. He cringed at the thought. He couldn’t sing, not on his life. Everyone thought that he would have the most angelic voice of the whole city because of his father, but it was learned early on that his talents were not from his throat. He couldn’t hit a single note, much less stay relatively on-key. This wouldn’t stop him from trying to get better, especially since he was told that most music colleges required a vocal audition just to see that you could find a pitch.  
Panicking about joining the Sirens, the singing group for their school, led to his scrap paper getting filled with doodles of music notes and faces - all of which were crossed out immediately because he couldn’t draw either. He looked up at the clock again which said that he still had fifty minutes left.  
His head suddenly felt so heavy that he didn’t bother trying to keep it up. His hair slid over the desk until he was looking in the direction of Kayla who was still staring intently at her packet. She had a tendency to put her pencil eraser between her pursed lips so no one could tell if she was chewing it or just pressing it against her skin. However, it was a firm enough hold that she could let go for a moment to change her hair. That was another of her habits, always changing the way her hair was styled while she was working. It’d be flopped over one way, then the other, then a high pony, then a side pony tail.  
He rested his chin so he could scan the room. The seats were in alphabetical order, so every time there was a test like this he was toward the back with two or three people behind him. He looked around the area for Percy, and when he couldn’t find him, he remembered that he was in a separate room due to his dyslexia.  
Unamused, he got out of his chair and walked to the bathroom in the boys’ locker room just for something to do. He walked around for a little bit, humming an unknown song. Then he went back out to his desk amid the sea of students that covered the gym floor. He still had a long time, so he observed the people around him.  
Most of the kids were still working, their pencils filling in the last couple of bubbles. A few speedy students, like Will, found other things to occupy their time. One kid put his head down, probably to sleep. Another was braiding her hair in an ornate fashion. There was one kid on the other side who seemed to be up to no good building some sort of mechanism out of rulers, pencils, pens, highlighters, protractors, and the scariest of all - rubber bands. It was clear that he either didn’t know which test was today or he was planning this ahead of time because nobody brings rulers and protractors to an English exam.  
His movements caught Will’s interest. His fingers turned rapidly every which way so it was difficult to tell what it was that he was building. His hair was a mess and was falling into his face with only his slightly pointed ears poking out from the mass of curls. Kind of reminded Will of his own hair, except dark and filled with sawdust and, was that ash? Must be a shop kid, Will thought.  
When he was done, which didn’t take long, upon his desk sat what appeared to be a fully-functioning tank. The pencils worked as the tread, and the scrap paper what repurposed as a canon while the ruler held things together and the protractor and highlighters gave it some dimension. And to prove that it was, in fact, a functioning mini-tank, he loaded the cannon with paper cannonballs and shot them at Coach Hedge, who was renowned at the school for his short height and temper.  
Luckily he wasn’t paying attention and the shots were light enough that he didn’t even notice. He snickered and turned to a girl sitting next to him with feathers in her hair. She looked up from her test for a moment to see his creation, then Will assumed that she rolled her eyes and went back to her work.  
With that little scenario come and gone, he looked back at the clock. He still had thirty minutes. With nothing left to do, he tilted his head back and tried to fall asleep. Instead he saw blurred images of Nico. He was playing his violin, and the song that filled Will’s ears was so beautiful. It was a violin-piano duet, and he started to tap on the edge of the desk along to the melody. His mind came up with all sorts of variations of a tune that it wasn’t any particular song, and instead the song would change whenever he so felt it.  
The image of Nico playing faded to that of him sitting on the hospital bed, and all was silence. This sudden change of mind shot his head forward and his eyes flew open. “Please insert your scantron into the test booklet and a proctor will come to pick it up,” he droning voice of some random teacher filled the gym marking the end of time. “Make sure to sign the pledge at the bottom of the scantron saying that you will not repeat any of what you have seen to anybody else until the test is open online. Have a nice summer.”  
Will couldn’t believe that thirty minutes had gone by so fast; it had only felt like two. He found the spot on the scantron to sign, and clicked his pen open. His movement was odd, and the result was completely unreadable. A real doctor’s script, the perfect handwriting that insinuates the irony of the job where legibility is the most important thing.  
The proctor was slow to go through his row, but the waiting allowed for his mind to wander further. Nico was taking the test in the same room as Percy, since his first language wasn’t English, at least not on record. He’d managed to get back just in time to take the standardized tests. He’d said that he was perfectly fine now, but then again, he’d said that before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What, I'm back? I'm back! That means I have my life back!  
> Oh hey there school, I don't get back to you for another week.  
> hehe  
> he  
> he
> 
>  
> 
> help
> 
> Follow me on:  
> Tumblr: cielworks  
> Twitter: Ciel_Works  
> to get all the stuff that you can't get here like my terrible drawing skills and excuses for lack of chapters! Yay!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank everyone for reading, I will try to update this daily! Hope you enjoyed it!


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